Dont count out the underdog
by Different Dimension Demon
Summary: neglect! fic. Naruto watches day in and day out as his parents choose to give his sister all the time she could ever want. She wants something, she gets it. So what does a neglected six year old do? Quite simple actually, find a new mother and family to train him. Parental! femKyuubi. undecided pairing. rating may change later on
1. chapter 1

A scowl crossed the face of six year old Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze as he watched his mother and father training in the yard with his twin sister. Now most in Konoha wouldnt find the scene odd or out of place but in and of itself there was one problem: him or the lack of his presence. Like most kids he wanted to be a shinobi like his parents and wanted to train a little to have a slight edge when him sister enteted the academy next year but his parents seemed to only be focused on his sister. "Tomorrow Naru-chan Im all yours I promise, you know your sister needs all the help she can get with her chakra control" was just the latest excuse his mother had given him and it was all a lie. Tomorrow would come and she'd give him another excuse while focusing on his sisters training. Turning away from the window as his mother, sister and father were all laughing about something he cursed under his breath. 'Where were we in lessons fox?' the young blonde asked mentally as he took a seat at his desk where he already had supplies set out.

'Chakra theory kit' a female voice replied looking at the young boy from within the recesses of his mind. 'And how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me fox? I do have a name you know.'

'About as many times as I tell you to stop calling me kit. Physical age and size doesnt mean squat when you get in any number of life death situations like the ones Ill face as a shinobi' Naruto thought back finding the appropriate folder in the neat stack. "Chakra is the mix of physical and mental energies used to produce the use of jutsu. Chakra has other uses aside from practical combat skills related to shinobi lifestyles. Every living being possesses chakra and no matter the minute amount one may possess, that chakra can be used to benefit that way of life. For example, farmers in Earth Country are well known to use chakra in their cultivation of food so that it it takes less time to grow but also absorb more nurtrients from the soil to make it healthier for you." The blonde boy glanced between illustrations and looked thoughtful as he mulled over what he read. It wasnt master level sealing arrays like his fathers work but for a six year old it was slightly challenging even with it being dumbed down for younger readers.

'Chakra isnt all for making things go boom' the voice said with a snicker at the expression on his face.

'I got that part fox' Naruto thought with a mental glare. 'I was thinking about other means it could be used for. If its practical applications are near limitless than I wonder what ways we havent thought to use it yet.' His eyes closed as he focused on the space where he spent his nights. When he opened his eyes he found himself in a classroom that with the sole inhabitant, besides himself, being a woman. If he had to guess just on how she looked he'd peg her as in her early thirties but really in shape for a woman that looked to just be entering the physical prime of her life. Long crimson red hair in a ponytail reached her butt as two long strands hung around her heart shaped face, her skin flawless and without blemish. Unlike most moden women he saw that walk around in clothes that flaunted their bodies she wore a rather conservative and traditional, but still flattering, royal blue kimono decorated with flower petals printed in a way that looked like they were being blown on a breeze in the night sky. Golden eyes met his gaze as he took a seat and waited patiently for what was coming next- teacher mode. He and the fox spirit got along well but when it came to his studies she made sure he knew what he was reading about and had no questions.

"Ok kit, list off the ways you are currently aware of that chakra is used in the world around you" the fox woman said as she summoned a seat and sat in front of him.

"Shinobi use it for fighting and jutsus of all categories, I dont understand the whole concept but one of dads books says Snow Country uses it to power something called 'trains' to travel long distances faster than going by foot, its used to produce electricity by all the major villages, the paper said Earth Country farmers use it to grow more food in less time... Um, oh yeah some shinobi like that dog guy who bothers my sister use it to track people down if they committ crimes" Naruto said pinching his chin in thought.

"Thats a good start but chakra, like the paper said, has the potential for a million yet undiscovered uses in both shinobi and non-shinobi ways. Chakra is as alive as you or me so as much as people use it willy nilly to their hearts content, you have to remember that you have to respect it. Theres a saying that goes "Dont bite the hand that feeds you" which roughly means dont take anything for granted, that includes the use of chakra. It very well could be the difference between a shinobi living or dying on the battle field or if we're talking about it in a non-shinobi way could be the difference between having the power in your house to watch your favorite show or not" the woman said. Seeing Naruto stare at her with a cocked head she had to fight to keep in a squeal becuase it was adorable on him and decided to try a different explanation. "Its as alive as we are, treat it with respect like you show me and I can say with pretty good odds it wont hurt you if you usd it to do something."

"Why didnt you say it that way in the first place? I know I spend a lot of time learning from books and lessons with you meaning Im pretty smart for my age group but Im still only six" Naruto said with a pout.

The fox woman couldnt help the giggle at the cuteness that was the scene before her as she took the few steps to kneel beside his desk. "I know kit but sometimes I forget that. For only being six you are so smart and mature that I try to... compensate for everything you miss out on in the real world" she said hugging the blonde as he sighed softly against her neck before small arms wrapped tightly around her waist as he nuzzled into her.

"I know you do and I appreciate your efforts. Its nice to know someone cares... Hitomi kaa-san" Naruto said closing his eyes enjoying the warmth coming off the fox spirit even if the warmth was only mental.

Hitomi smiled softly and held Naruto closer as he called her kaa-san. It wasnt the first time he'd been vocal about being appreciative about her efforts to not only teach him to be strong and smart while still treating him as a child to let him enjoy his childhood but it was the first time he'd called her kaa-san she would be a bold faced liar if she said her metaphorical heart didnt clench. "Ill alway care my precious sochi. Those two can ignore you in favor of your sister but kaa-san will be here for her kit, forever and always" she whispered softly and kissed his forehead. The quiet heartfelt words brought tears to her eyes as she felt the fabric of her kimono get wet around her stomach. Lifting Naruto into her arms properly she held the small boy close to her chest and rocked him. "Its time for you to return my kit. We'll play later I promise" she said once she saw the tears had stopped falling from Narutos eyes.

"Hai..." Naruto said softly and looking down. He didnt want to leave, it wasnt like his 'parents' would have anything interesting to say to him at dinner and pawn off questions about his day as genuine interest in their eldest childs life. Of course Naruko would butt in before he could say anything of substance and launch into a rant his parents would solely focus on.

"Its only three hours my precious sochi. You can still talk to me you know this" Hitomi said tipping Narutos head up so his eyes met hers.

"I know its just... I wish you had a real body so we could be together all the time instead of these moments in my head" Naruto said with a sigh.

"Then become a strong shinobi and find a way to make me a body" Hitomi said catching his attention. "You're smart my kit, I have every faith in you. If anyone can find a way to give me a body I know you can."

Naruto smiled a little as his eyes beamed with pride at the confidence Hitomi had in him. "I promise Ill find a way to make you a body kaa-san" he said holding his pinky making the fox woman laugh a little.

"I know sochi" Hitomi said catching her pinky around Narutos. "Now scoot, go eat something and take a bath before you come back her you stink." She stuck her tongue out playfully as he glared cutely before bopping her on the nose.

"I do not" Naruto said before disappearing from his mind.

'I must thank you Kushina. Yours and your husbands poor choices have given me the kit I always wanted' Hitomi thought waving her hand making the classrom melt and changed into a comfortable home with a fireplace that already had the fire roaring making it cozy. 'He'll know a mothers love and support from me since you seem inept at doing it for both your children.' She curled up on a couch to await her sochis return. The thought of the term made her smile softly as her eyes looked into the fire.


	2. Realizations and Criticizing Reality

A/N: So heres a welcome to chapter two. I should hopefully have the next chapter out for The secrets we keep and the demons we unleash out soon, I know I havent updated it in a good amount of time sue me. I couldnt get the finals fight leading into the invasion right and hopefull the beta will help with that.

 ** _o0o_**

Naruto sighed bored as he sat in the back of the academy class room as Iruka droned on about something or another. With the graduation test three daya away they were reviewing the basic jutsu required to pass the exam and other miscellaneous items. 'This is such a waste. The jutsu are stupid simple to do and while a fundamental stepping stone to any shinobi, the bunshin is useless as its only an illusion' he thought to himself.

'And just what are you trying to say about my specialty sochi-kun?' Hitomi asked in a sickly sweet tone. In the years that followed the first time Naruto had called her kaa-san the pair had grown closer not only as mother and son but also in a sort of hybrid teacher-student-supportive older sister on the sidelines when it came to his training.

'Nothing Kaa-san. Im not dismissing the pratical and combat merits of real illusions you've taught me to use or the watered down genjutsu that shinobi use but when you use the bunshin its obvious that its a farce. If you want my honest opinion its a wonder we dont have more dead Konoha shinobi. All that is taught is irrelevant here. Calligraphy, while useful for fuinjutsu, was brushed over for an elective for an elective that focused on pretty words and artistry rather than practical shinobi skills. History focused only on the village and if they even mentioned a battle it has the barest details; knowing how the battle was fought, troop placements on bith sides, how the attacks proceeded, what attack types were used etc. would be useful to instill a sense of tactics and battlefield know how. They focused too damn much on civvie skills and junk of that sort when this is supposed to be a shinobi academy' Naruto thought.

"Naruto! Are you even paying?!" Iruka asked with a tick on his forehead.

"Considering I tuned you out after the mention of reviewing the history of the three basic jutsu most of us should have mastered in the second year, no. Quite frankly Iruka-sensei I have to say something and take it as you will tell Hokage-sama if you feel you must but this academy is pathetic. While I understand that it builds the foundation for most of us attending for what it means to be a shinobi, and for most of us I do mean all the civilian children who come from non-shinobi families, thats all it does. If you look at views of how the other four great villages train their future shinobi its far more vigorous. They expose them to a little of every facet of the shinobi arts, what does our academy do? Basic taijutsu, the basic three ninjutsu, minimal genjutsu and throwing weapon practice. I wouldnt be surprised if half the civilians who pass and become genin die on their first mission outside the village" Naruto said blandly. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop as the kids in the room stared at the blonde with wide eyes. Naruto rarely ever contributed anything to the class conversation but here he just criticized the village academy systematically pointing out its shortcoming. "Then theres one other glaring fact, lets talk about the clan heirs. The academy is tailored as a loose how-to guide for civilians. Clan heirs who have access to outside training have the leg up over civilians who have no access to training material without a pass from the academy to access the shinobi section of the library to even hope to catch up to their clan peers in understanding. The system is rigged to give the clan kids or those who have shinobi relatives a leg up."

Irukas tick increased but Narutos logic was sound. "Be that as it may Naruto, you fit into that section of your own logic too after all your father is the Hokage and teaches you and-"

"He has taught me jack shit" Naruto hissed with a glare surprising everyone. "He" one hand seal later he henged into a perfect copy of his father "and she" the henge shifted into a perfect copy of Kushina "spend time training my brat of an attention seeking twin" he said letting the henge drop. "I teach my self. I practice by myself to better and diversify my skills so I wont die on my first real mission. Dont compare me to those spoiled brats." Of course he was lying about being self taught but he wasnt about to let anyone know about his kaa-san.

A couple of rows down Narutos twin, Naruko, frowned deeply. Like her brother she had fathers bright blonde hair and blue eyes. Her skin was a natural tan and blemishless with the exception of six whisker like marks on her cheek, three on each cheek. Being slightly above average build for a thirteen year old at thirteen she was about 5'3 and already blooming with a small C-cup bust. She knew her brother resented her because of all the special attention their parents but with the corrosive and destructive yang half of the Kyuubi she needed all the help she could get.

Before it could erupt in a pissing match between the pair of siblings Iruka dismissed the class. Naruto opened the window and jumped out the window landing on a tree branch nearby before making his way towards the training grounds reserved for academy students. He wasnt one to be angry often, hell him being upset was rare considering part of his training with Hitomi included control of his emotions, but being compared to the spoiled clan kids and his brat sister pissed him off.

'Calm down my precious kit' Hitomis voice drifted around him like a warm blanket as his fists collided with the taijustsu dummy. 'I know you hate the comparison but remember your breathing exercises.' When it seemed he wasnt listening the fox sighed and spiked her chakra for a moment in his coils forcing his muscles to relax. Unlike her corrsosive and destructive orientated yang chakra sealed in Naruko, the yin half was a calming and healing sort.

'Kit, you're better than this. What have I taught you?' she asked as Naruto rested his head against could the training dummy.

"Never let my emotions cloud my thinking. It can lead to my death or the death of my teammates" Naruto muttered with a sigh. "Im sorry kaa-san... I lost my head back there its just.."

'You dont need to say a word sochi' Hitomi said as she let her chakra leak out a little more relaxing all of Narutos tense muscles before recalling the chakra back before anyone could sense it. 'Kit, just remember your head next time. I know you despise being compared. Wind over the water kit, let it go and carry on.'

"Hai kaa-san" Naruto said quietly before taking a relaxed stance before the dummy. He was already here, might as well train a bit before he go home and get an earful from his 'family'. For the next two hours he went through the katas for the taijutsu style that Hitomi had been teaching him over the last few years. While he had no battle experience to tweak it, obviously, he was confident enough in it to have sparred against Sasuke and beat him a fair few times.

When he got home he was met by a hard glare from Minato. He had been informed of Narutos tirade and outburst to say he was upset for an understatement. "What do you have for yourself young man?" he asked with a hard tone.

"That from a cold clinical stand point Im right and our villages current academy ciriculum is a joke. That from a cold clincal stand point you're going to be presiding over a lot of funerals from civilian children who make genin and die on a first serious mission outside of the village. From my own understanding of a what a parent SHOULD BE you and Kushina are a failure favoring my brat twin when, NEWS FLASH MINATO I HAVE HALF OF THE KYUUBI IN ME TOO! But thats right, I dont have the destructive side so my training doesnt matter does it?" Naruto asked with a cold sneer. He saw his father flinch at each point made and more so at the glaring failure of a parent he was. Leaving the man standing there he went to his room and glared harshly at Kushina who was staring at him with wide teary eyes. "Dont touch me" he hissed noticing the woman reaching out to touch him but flinch back at his tone. "Go train your daughter, after all you only wanted a girl anyway." He saw her eyes widen more in horror before walking to his room and slamming the door before locking it.

Hitomi felt the rage coursing so harshly through Naruto that she pulled him into his mind the moment he sat down. Before he could say a word she had him held tightly in her arms as she nuzzled the top of his head. She felt him struggle and it only made her hold on tighter. "Sochi calm down" she said, her voice hard but loving. "They arent your family and that house isnt your home." Her words seemed to calm slightly as a heavy sigh escapes his lips and his shoulders slumped heavily in defeat.

"Im sorry kaa-san..." Naruto said quietly. For a second time in one day he lost his cool and nearly lost it.

"Its ok my kit, kaa-san has you" Hitomi whispered softly. "As soon as you make genin you qualify for shinobi housing so you can be free from this irritation. Then we can begin the search for your real brothers and sisters."

Naruto glanced up with a small smile and a light in his eyes. "You mean.."

"Yes my sweet sochi, the other containers like yourself" Hitomi said running her claw tipped fingers through his hair lovingly. "Rest, I can see that the emotional outbursts have taken a lot of you." The room changed and now the pair were sat on a large bed in a comfy bedroom as she laid them down. Naruto didnt resist and seemed to curl up to the fox spirit.

"Promise me you'll be here when I wake" Naruto said softly as he nuzzled his head into Hitomis chest, her scent and the quiet beat of her heart relaxing him.

"Kaa-san will always be here sochi, she would never leave her kit alone" Hitomi said quietly wrapping her arms around her son. The quiet words made him smile softly making her heart flutter with warmth as he fell asleep contently against her chest. "Kaa-san loves her kit too much to leave you alone. I'll kill anyone who tries to take you from me or tries to hurt you sochi" she whispered kissing his forehead before burying her face in his hair. Not too shortly after she joined him in content sleep, her grip loosened slightly but mother and son curled up close to each each other for warmth.


	3. Tick tock go the hands on the clock

-Naruto and Narukos graduation exam-

"So how did your graduation exam go? Did you two pass?" Kushina asked spotting her children enter the Uzumaki-Namikaze compound.

Naruko, ever the bratty and excitable ball of sunshine everyone loved even if they disliked her, grinned bouncing on her heels nodding quickly. "It was so easy kaa-chan! I coulda done it one handed and blindfolded!" the blonde said excitedly. Unlike her big brother who chose to keep with dark tones to his clothes as he got older she liked lighter tones leading to her dressed in one of her usual outfits, a sky blue kunoichi battle dress that hugged her frame accentuating her feminine form.

"Solely based on the fact that the exam was pathetically pitiful and neanderthalic. Your husband doesnt know how to take advice does he Kushina-san? Or is he as soft as Lord Third was to keep the same advisory council that uses their position to line their pockets and undermine his authority?" Naruto asked. Instead of his usual training gear, ANBU style pants and mesh undershirt covered by a black short sleeve one, he had lazily chosen sweats and a baggy hoodie to take his test in. Of course everyone didnt expect much from him even if he was the Yondaimes son, that was how Naruto wanted it. While Naruko was top kunoichi he had purposefully done everything to be middle of the pack in the guys side of the rankings so he would be a wildcard and underestimated more often than not.

"You wil show your fath-"

"Oh, I have a father do I? Where was he the first six years when I wanted or needed something? Where was my mother for that matter? More importantly... My twin who was supposed to be the closest to me hmm?" Naruto asked with a dark hiss. "Oh that right, they didnt exist til all three you had your 'Oh shit!' moment on her" he glared blankly at Naruko who looked away in shame "seventh birthday. I dont want part of you. I dont want part of your husband. I dont want any part of this household or its clans. You already named her heir to both clans on her seventh birthday just before your too little too late realization so you dont need me and youve made it abundantly clear." He placed his headband on the table by the front door.

"Onii-san we-"

"Holy shit, the church mouse speaks! Let us write its holy script and proclaim it the word of Kami to the masses!" The sarcasm made both women wince at the barely restrained anger in Narutos voice. "As soon as I get placed on a team Im moving into the Shinobi Housing complex. You three can play house for all I care. Your attempts to bribe me into forgiving you have gotten really old. After six years of throwing everything back in your faces I wouldve thought youd have gotten it by now but thats my mistake. Stupid is as stupid does and I was stupid to think you would sincerely try to make up for your past transgressions" Naruto spat at them. "Tell your husband if he assigns that cycloptic transplant student of his to be my jounin sensei Kushina-san Im tendering my resignation as a shinobi and leaving the village."

'Damn sochi, I know I said let them know how you truly feel but even I feel a little bad for them.. Minato not so mucb but Kushina and your twin tried to some degree to be sincere to try making amends' Hitomi thought as Naruto walked up into his room and slammed the door for effect as the muffled sobs of the women downstairs reached her ears through his senses.

'Too little too late. Any sincerity was rendered invalid when every jutsu scroll, chakra control scroll and money was tossed at me as a bribe to distract me from my righteous anger' Naruto thought. 'I had an idea to free you from the seal but you may not like it.'

'What idea would that be?' Hitomi asked guardedly. She trusted her kit with her life, because she had to and he was bloody brilliant but the way he cautiously worded his last sentence made her uneasy.

'With the right seals and a sword I could transfer your soul effectively making you a..' Naruto hesitated again since the idea didnt sit well with him but it was the only idea he had left 'a blood-bound weapon to me. Before you say it, I dont like the idea either and I never could view you as a weapon but its the only idea I have left! Bunshins wont last for a youkai transfer since itll destabilize too quick and Plans A-K we agreed would kill us both. I dont know what else to try kaa-san.'

Hitomis fur bristled at the idea of trading being a prisoner in her son for being the prisoner of a weapon but Naruro was right. 'The transfer of my spirit could very well kill us both during the bonding kit' Hitomi thought forcing a calm over herself.

'Or... you could always form a summon contract for the fox clan and have him sign it. Being the head you have the authority to do so and making yourself his personal summon would free you of this prison.' Naruto and Hitomi went on alert at the new voice in his head. 'Now now Hitomi, dont tell me you forgotten your precious onee-sama. I may just cry if you have.' Out of the shadows of his mind stepped a winged serpentine woman leaving Naruto floored for two reasons.

Number one, she was attractive to be polite. Pale skin was contrasted by inky midnight sky black hair with silver eyes peering out between two long bangs framing her heart shaped face. A purple and gold kimono hugged her figure nicely accentuating her feminine goods nicely while preserving a bit of modesty. What really caught his attention were the dark grey wings sprouting from her back.

The other reason he was floored, Hitomi had quite literally flying glomped the woman and had her in a tight hug as she purred 'Levi onee-sama' into the womans neck happily nuzzling her. 'Kaa-san, who is this exactly and why is she in my head?' Naruto asked as he pulled himself into his mind once he settled into a meditative position in his room.

"Kaa-san huh little sister? Didnt even bother to tell me you had a kit and here I was.."

"Hes not mine by birth onee-sama. My previous host and her mate neglected him in favor of his sister who possess the yang half of my chakra so I took it upon myself to be there for him like his parents neglected to be" Hitomi said with a growl.

"So hes adopted then?"

"Not fully, not yet anyway. He agreed to the ritual to change to be like us but I wont do it yet. Hes too young and I worry the influx of youkai to influence the change all at once will warp him so Im getting him used to the feeling and affects of youkai gradually for the moment."

"WILL YOU TWO STOP TALKING ABOUT ME LIKE IM NOT STANDING RIGHT HERE?!" Naruto asked with a growl and a twitchy eyebrow.

"Kinda reminds me of a miffed kit. Cute and adorable but threatening as a wet kitten" the woman said with a shrug tilting her head to the side dodging a kunai. "Now now nephew, is that anyway to treat your auntie Leviathan?"

Naruto stared in shock. "Come again now?" he asked thinking he imagined what he just heard.

"Is that any way my little kit of a nephew to treat your auntie Leviathan? Especially when she comes bearing gift and the keys to your mothers freedom" Leviathan asked with a smirk revealing a set of fangs.

"Forgive me auntie, I didnt know. Kaa-san hasnt mentioned you before" Naruto said bowing his head a little in shame, after running the womans words through every demon and human lie detecting method Hitomi taught him only to come back as truth, of nearly injuring family even if they just met.

"She hasnt has she?" Leviathan asked looking to Hitomi who was hiding her face in her elder sisters chest. "We can rectify getting to know each other later nephew. For now I come with gifts not seen since the time of Hagomoro or as you know him tbe Sage of The Six Paths."

Narutos jaw dropped at the statement. "Wha-what kind of gifts?" he asked with a momentary stutter, something he hadnt done since before Hitomi taught him to speak properly.

"His summoning contract with my clan and all the benefits that come with it, weapons techniques fighting styles and the aid of my clan whenever you need it. But you have to fulfill one duty as his heir, complete the old mans dream of bringing peace to the Elemental Nations. Promise me on your honor as the heir of Hagomoro and my little sister to do that its yours."

"Do I have to do it a certain way?" Naruto asked thoughtfully.

"The old man was idealistic and a dreamer. You, you are pragmatic and realistic so Im going to stretch my wings here and say no you dont have a strict confines on how to do it."

"Then as the heir of the sage and the strongest biju, jubi aside, I will bring peace to the Nations. There may be blood shed but there will be peace auntie" Naruto said as Leviathan summoned the scroll and let him sign it.

-at the same time across all the Elemental Nations-

A cold shiver raced down nearly every shinobi and kunoichis spine as a sense of dread fell upon them. Something had changed in their world and they would soon find out what but what they did know was it would be fierce.

'Kami save us' was the thought echoed by nine individuals staring out at the setting sun as seals on their person glowed an ominous burnt orange.

Meanwhile in Ame a man in an orange swirl mask and a black cloak with red clouds shuddered in fear. 'What is this..this power?' he thought trying to shake off the feeling like a timer had just been started on the countdown that was now his life.

-back in Narutos mind-

"Now that thats done, Im going to claim a room in your head here for the night kit. Too lazy to go back to the summon realm" Leviathan yawned after making the scroll disappear.

"Take kaa-san with you with for tonight. I havent seen her that relaxed and sleeping peacefully since the first time I called her mom when I was six" Naruto said laughing softly as Hitomi changed unconsciously into a small fox and snuggled into Leviathans chest with her face buried in the other womans neck. While the serpentine woman sat up he knelt down and lovingly scratched Hitomis ears making her purr happily in her sleep and paw Leviathan. "Rest well kaa-san" he said before kissing the top of her head gently.

"And just where are you going kit?" Levianthan asked rubbing a finger through her little sisters fur.

"Dinner with my 'family' and then training. I havent mastered the basics of the sword style kaa-san showed me her memories of perfecting while all the biju were still part of the jubi, the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu" Naruto said phasing out of his mind while Leviathan stared.


	4. Team placements and first summonings

A/N: ok, before I start this chapter, there is going to be a minute chuckle moment involving Shikamaru and Kiba. They may become important later when certain points of the story become more prominent. Also, give me your feedback on how you thinks the story is so far. I know I have spent a good amount on Mind games and Illusions recently but thats because of the power of -insert spongebob rainbow gif- INSPIRATION. Also, thinking about humoring ideas of a romantic pairing instead of just a general pairing to drive the plot after recent review of some draft notes so drop in reviews who you would like to see done. As long as its not Hinata. Shes overdone like Hell. Or Sakura, she can die in a hole. Personally I would love one of the lesser used characters in the cannon or movies like Koyuki or one of the other girls. Actually.. -scribbles some notes away for later review- ramblings aside, review and droo your thoughts/suggestions or not. Its your choice.

-0-

'Visions Of Desomation is a series of high rank genjutsu that revolves around disconnecting the targets senses from reality entirely. Use of spplemental genjutsu to make sure the target does not break the active Visions Of Desomation technique is recommend. The first technique in the ser-' Narutos reading was interrupted as the scroll in his hands was knocked out of his hands by an irritated Satsuki Uchiha. "Unless you have a very good reason for doing that or you have a death you want me to fill for you I hope you have a good reason for interrupting my reading" Naruto said with a sharp snappy sneer.

Satsuki, ever the broody emo princess, scoffed at him and shoved Narutos desk at him. "Sensei is here you asshole. You, me and sister under your mother" she said with a disdainful look. The class looked at the pair and shook their heads internally. It was clear the Uchiha heiress had the hots for Naruto and the blonde clearly did not care about that fact at all instead found amusement in tormenting the girl.

"Great, just god damn great. Anything else you want to tell me? The sky is falling, Shikamarus gay" a choking sound filled the room as eyes swivelled to see said young man blushing "wait are you? Shit I was joking about that Shikamaru but whatever floats your boat. At least you won't have to worry about 'troublesome kids'. Well since my day is ruined now might as well get this fucking over with. Oh and Shika, remember to use protection." Naruto made a half ram handseal and poofed in a swirl of flames.

"Did he just insinuate that"

"The smartest kid of our class"

"Is not only having sex but also gay?"

Naruko blinked slightly at the kids shock. "What? Don't tell me you didn't know. Holy shit you people are slow. Kiba! How many months you and your 'shadow puppet' been secretly dating?" she asked the Inzuka heir who blushed angerly.

"We are not dating!" Kiba growled.

"Maa maa, thats why you two can never look each other in the eye and always stare at the others ass when they aren't paying attention right?" Naruko asked with a smirk as both boys blushed and glared darkly at her.

"Now now Naru-chan, don't tease your classmates. Just because little Kiba and Shika-kun are dating does not give you the right to tease. Unless you gave birth to them shut up and grab Satsuki so we can go talk to your brother as a team" Kushina said with a mixed motherly-teacherly scold. As the pair of girls approached she grabbed their shoulders and made them disappear in a swirl of leaves.

"FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI WE ARE NOT GAY!" Kiba and Shikamaru yelled in frustration amidst the rumors already beginning to spread. Two classrooms over the yaoi fangirl club girls felt their senses tingling and began to giggle pervertedly wondering who their new targe- subjects to study were.

-on the roof-

"You're late. I expected you two minutes and thirty five seconds" Naruto said with a scowl looking up from the scroll he had been reading earlier. "Since this is probably going to be the standard getting to know each other thing can we hurry this along?"

"Well since you want to kill my thunder you go first" Kushina said with a scowl at her son.

"I like things. I dislike or hate others. I have no dreams or hobbies. You already know my name" Naruto said before going back to reading.

Kushinas eyebrow and hands twitched as Satsuki Naruko shuffled away. "Naruto, don't you think that you should add a little more to your introduction?" she asked with a sickeningly sweet tone that made no uncertains it was an order as the teams jounin sensei.

"No, not particularly. Satsuki has a single track mind with two main objectives. One, to murder her elder brother for murdering their clan. Two, get in my pants to revive said clan because of this ill conceived notion in her mind that her arrogance bred by the people of this village bowing to her clan before its slaughter has given this idea that at some point I'll bow to her Uchiha will and fuck her senseless" Naruto droned bored as all hell. "As far as you and Naruko-san goes, I observed you two with Hokage-sama for six years so I know all I need to know about you. How you two fight, techniques you favor, the weapons you use etc."

"Am I the only one uncomfortable?" Naruko asked Satsuki. The Uchiha female didn't answer as she hid an undignified blush bebind steepled fingers.

"Plus, the chunin exams are being hosted here in Konoha in a year. Since the Chunin exams is about who has the biggest dick militarily speaking, I wouldn't be surprised if your husband made the suggestion to all the jounins who have a team with a clan heir to nominate them as ringer teams" Naruto said glancing up from the scroll with one eye to notice Kushinas blanched expression. "What, you look surprised Kushina-san. Do you think that your husband is not capable of such an action?"

"Kaa-san, what does onii-san mean by ringer team?" Naruko asked looking confused.

"I mean, a show team. This graduating class has the heirs of every clan in Konoha. This means two things. One, the heirs are obviously well trained and that means they will be strong contenders for the chunin exams possibly be promoted to chunin. Secondly, following the coattails of my previous point- being they are strong and well trained it will showcase the new generations strength concerning the clans of Konoha. However, attention will be focused on two people in particular if I am right" Naruto said rolling his scroll up.

"Who would they be?" Naruko asked looking intently at Naruto missing Satsuki palming her face at the blonde haired girls idiocy.

"Us you idiot. With my brother killing everyone in my clan I am for lack of a better phrase the 'Last Uchiha'. You are the named heir to not only the Namikaze and Uzumaki clan but the only child the other villages warrant attention for as the child of Yondaime Hokage. I wouldn't be surprised if teams from the other villages competed with the sole purpose of gaining information on our abilities" Satsuki said getting a sheepish look of from Naruko and an 'Oh' as a response.

"You find killing the fun in everything amusing don't you?" Kushina asked with a scowl eyeing Naruto.

"Just as amusing as neglecting your eldest child for seven years and then trying to bribe their forgiveness" Naruto said rolling the scroll up and tossed it into the air before it disappeared into a black hole like pocket that appeared to swallow it hole and disappear as quick.

"What was that?" Kushina asked wearily knowing something like that existed in the sealing notes of the clan archives.

"Don't worry about it. You aren't our official sensei yet anyway so I don't have to tell you squat" Naruto said surprising Naruko.

"What do you mean she's not our official sensei yet onii-san? Of course she is" Naruko said.

"Actually he's right. The academy final exam shows who has the POTENTIAL to become a full genin. You still have to pass my test" Kushina said.

Naruto slapped a dunce cap on Narukos head as he gave her a told you so look. "Where did you get the dunce cap?" Satuski asked as Naruko gave Naruto a pitiful look.

"Here, there, from inside the crack of your ass" Naruto said rolling his eyes as he gave the smartass asshole answer making Satsuki blush darkly in anger at the last part.

"Just meet me at Training Ground 7 at 9am for your test or I will fail you all and send you back for a year of remedial training" Kushina said rubbing her temples to stave off a migraine.

"Meh, means more time to refine my personal techniques if that happens" Naruto said with a shrug befors taking off via the rooftops towards the training grounds as Kushina disappeared in a standard shunshin while Satsuki left via the stairs leaving Naruko alone on the roof looking confused still.

"Wait... OH COME ON! WE STILL NEED TO DO A STUPID TEST TO BE FULL GENIN?!" Naruko wailed with a screeching whine putting Sakura to shame.

-inside the classroom at the same time-

Sakura sneezed and wiped her nose cursing whoever was talking about her. Unless itwas Satsuki. The thought made her blush and giggle pervertedly making her team mates, a really pale boy named Sai and some civilian kid named Kaori, scoot away from her with matching 'what the fuck' expressions on their faces.

-narutos private training ground-

"Summoning: Hitomi" Naruto said flashing through the handsigns after putting up a chakra suppressing barrier so no one felt the output. As the column of smoke cleared he flashed through the seals again and said "Summoning: Leviathan." When both columns of smoke blew away both women stood impressed as the second summoning brought young leviathan with the summoning of his aunt the contract.

"Hewwo" the young leviathan said flapping its wings as it flapped its wings floating in place in its animal form.

"Well well nephew, you keep surprising me" Leviathan said with a pleasantly surprised look. "Seems your familiar just happens to be my youngest daughter." The older woman laughed lightly as the leviathan tackled he and nuzzled into her chest. "Easy Kikyo, its time to be serious. That is Naruto, he is your cousin and partner from now on" she said as the cutesy expression slipped off the young leviathans face as she became serious.

"Well well, treat me well then Naruto-kun and we will have no problems cousin" Kikyo said as she changed to her human form looking like a younger version of her mother.

"Oh I think we'll get along just fine" Naruto said with a mischievous smirk.


	5. True genin exam and eye opening shocks

Naruto grimaced slightly as he nursed a black and blue arm as Kushina went on about something like team work and flaws they individually possessed. 'The only flaw is I used the Kitsukaken a litttle longer than than I should have' he thought. The Kitsukaken was one of the more fundamental technique to the taijutsu style that Hitomi taught him but it was powerful for a low level technique. With directed use of dual fire and wind nature chakra channeled through his attacks he could create or close distances between himself his opponent. Of course his natural element being wind it stood to reason that his affinity to channeling raw fire chakra to enhance attacks left much to be desired and it showed with the rapidly healing burns on his hands.

"Well you three pass my test officially making you three Team Ramen and Toma-"

"Finish that sentence and I leave my headband on the ground. I refuse to be made a mockery of because some people think with their stomach" Naruto said with a withering scathing look.

"Lighten up onii-san, kaa-san was not being serious. She noticed you spacing out like you were studying a seal array and said something purposefully stupid to get your attention" Naruko said with a pout. Truth be told she was spacing a little too knowing she had left one too many opening in her defense but for lack of a better phrase she was well rounded with a slight more reliance on her wazikashi.

"Saying stupid things isn't hard for her" Naruto said rolling his eyes. Kushina looked hurt at the statement before smacking him over the head with a paperfan she produced out of nowhere. The look that followed was cold enough to freeze hell over as the very visage of a demon scarier than the Shinigami formed behind him making Naruko and Satsuki scoot a good fifty to the right.

Satsuki watched the exchanged with wide eyes and actually cowering slightly behind Naruko. Of course she would deny it if anyone accused her of it but there were two things that utterly scared the shit out of her. One, the inital stumbling upon the massacre of her clan. Discovering your clan of nearly five hundred all but slaughtered by one person, her elider brother she loved and admired more than anyone in the world, scared her to the very foundation of her core. The second thing to scare her, a pissed off Naruto. The sense of danger and barely contained rage animosity just spelled doom for the unlucky sap that pissed him off.

"Now now, thats no way to talk to your sensei" Kushina chided with a pout.

"Teach me something I don't know and I'll consider it. Otherwise you're just another jounin squad leader" Naruto said clenching and unclenching his fist to relieve the muscle ache. "If theres nothing else Im goin to train. Kikyo, you coming or you going to spy longer still?" he asked calling out confusing the three women.

"Theres no one else here" Kushina said slowly with a tilt of her head. Before she could say anything else a winged serpent flew out of the tree and floated in front of her sons face for a moment before nuzzling his cheek.

"Not bad foxy woxy. A little too deceptive of a taijutsu style for the clans preferred methods but powerfully deceptive" Kikyo said nodding to herself. "And you need to work more on your control of elemental chakra. Cant have that" she nodded to his arm "happen every time you get caught in a drawn out taijutsu spar."

"Thank you captain obvious for this revelation I knew not of" Naruto said rolling his eyes sarcastically however it was different. Unlike everyone else the tone he used and even the flick to the summon animals nose was playful like brother and sister behavior unknowingly, on his part, sparking jealous feeling in Naruko. "Come on, I'll buy you a juicy mouse and you can give me your observations in greater detail" he said making a motion for the winged serpent to follow him.

"Naruto, just who is that?" Satsuki asked pointinto the winged snake happily rubbing her head against his own after settling on top of his head. "And what exactly do you mean its observations?"

"Kikyo here is my summon contract familiar so naturally she goes where I go" Naruto said with a raised eyebrow ignoring the three womens shocked looks. "As far as her observations? I told her to hide in the tree tops and suppress her presence so she could observe our test. She knows the strengths and weaknesses to how I fight, the purpose was for her to see how you three do so she can provide the right support on real missions."

"Just what contract did you sign? I never seen a summons like her before" Naruko said trying to pet Kikyos wings but the winged serpent hissed at her baring fangs making the blonde retreat quickly.

"Of course you haven't, her clans contract is not native to Konoha" Naruto said affectionately scratching under Kikyos chin ellicting a purr like hiss from the summon. "I don't particularly know where they hail from but one day after training myself into the ground I noticed little Kikyo here staring at me from the tree tops. Long story short her clan sent her to find someone worthy to sign their clan contract and she found me. After meeting with her mother the boss and some serious questions that are meant to search the soul character of the potental summoner I was allowed to sign it" he said shrugging.

"What clan is she from and would they consider an alliance with the village?" Kushina asked. She could feel a strength coming off the winged serpent and pondered if they thought her son worthy enough to summon if they would take on other summoners.

"We are Leviathans, progenitors of the disgraced Snake clan. Once the personal summons of the Sage of The Six Paths himself and we would not consider such" Kikyo said, her tone losing the cutesy edge she often used to mess with people. "We contract only those pure of ambitions and heart like Naruto-kun. After the elders saw his memories at their request they were disgusted with people like you who left their young to their own devices for no reason" she glared darkly at Kushina "and you who abandoned kin to better yourself" she said shifting her glare to Naruko as both women looked to the ground. "Should Naruto-kun ever have children who wish to be shinobi we will test them to see if they are worthy of our aid but thats that."

"Well, theres you answer straight from the snakes mouth" Naruto said shrugging and rolled his eyes as the cute glare being directed at him from Kikyos head bent down to look him in the eyes. "Dont look at me like that, its quicker to say than leviathan every single time. Well, you got reports to file Kushina-san so Im going to leave to train so yeah." He leapt into the trees to find an empty training ground away from people to practice.

-inside the Yondaimes office-

Minato looked at the gather jounin and waited patiently as each team sensei for the new genin gave their reports of their final tests. Teams one through six failed outright for one reason or another, stupid reasons quite frankly, and all but one team was recommended to be dropped from the shinobi program completely. Team 10 led by Sarutobi Asuma with the current Ino-Shika-Cho members passed though Asuma requested a strong auxilery kunoichi trainer to help him break Inos fangirl attitude issues. Team 8 led by rookie jounin Kurenai Yuuhi consisting of the current Aburame, Hyuuga and Inzuka heirs was passed with only passing remarks that she had to work on Hinatas confidence someone needed to beat Kiba out of his bad habit of leering at women like they were pieces of meat. "And what about your team Kushina?" Minato asked.

"They passed. Naruto is skilled in nearly every area of the ninja arts except medical. He engaged me one on one in taijutsu while Satsuki and Naruko took to the trees to plan. Between his channeling of fire and wind elemental chakra I had to keep a safe distance. Satsuki has a good reservoir of ninjutsu and weapon orientated techniques like her clansmen did, taijutsu needs work since her clans signature style is too stiff for her body type. Naruko is well rounded as you already know and pressed the advantagd of her team mates putting me on the ropes snatching the bells at my waist while putting me at kunai point to end the test" Kushina said surprising most of the jounin. She was one of the best kunoichi in the village and evrn if she was holding back since it was a genin test her being defeated was a shock.

"I see, anything special to note?" Minato asked jotting down notes about Naruto since he had no clue of his sons skills.

"Yeah, one thing. Naruto has a summon contract" Kushina said. Minato fell out of his chair making the assembled jounin look between the husband and wife pair confused. Shouldnt they know if their child had a summon contract? Most were wondering if the toads were it since Minato and Naruko were part of it so it stood to reason Naruto would too.

"Which contract does hes possess?" Minato asked pulling himself back into his seat.

"According to his familiar" several of the jounins eyes widened since it was rare for a contracted summoner to have a familiar unless the clan was old and powerful "they are Leviathans that once served as the Sage of The Six Paths personal summons and progenitors of the Snake clan shamed by Orochimaru" Kushina said flooring nearly everyone in the room. "I asked if they would consider an alliance with the village and taking on more summoners but she flat out refused and said that they would align with any of Narutos children he had in the future if they wished to be shinobi and passed their test but after the contract elders asked to see his memories.. Well you can guess how that went. The familiar ripped me and Naruko a new one before she Naruto went off to train."

"I- I s-see" Minato said shocked to the core like everyone else. A contract belonging to the Sage himself?! In the hands of his own son?! Damn if he wasn't proud but worried at the same time at having the contract elders knowing of his, Kushinas and Narukos basic denial of Narutos existence for six years to train her over him. "You're all dismissed except you Kushina" he said composing himself.

"I dont know whether to be proud or worried koi. To have powerful contract like that will draw a lot of attention once he gets out into the wider world. Im worried though since they seem to know about the Kyuubi in him since he called him 'foxy woxy' after the test ended" Kushina said biting her lip in nervous habit.


	6. Lying client & pre-lude to a storm

Naruto was not a happy camper as he punted, quite hard if the yowling screech was any indication, a hog tied cat into the Hokages office. "Twelve times. Twelve times this week we have had to chase and capture that little monster. I swear to Kami I am letting Kikyo use her larger form to EAT the little bitch next time" he growled with a furious twitching eyebrow. "And you Lady Shinji" his head swiveled to glare at the noble "if you want a damn pet to seek affections from you constantly do us all a damn favor, GET A DOG! No genin in the village likes chasing the cat you nearly murder with your hugs. The only reason the cat isn't dead is because no one before me had the balls to say it to your face. Next time my team has to retrieve your abomination run away cat it very well may return dead in a tiny little match box if Kikyo doesnt eat it first. Am. I. Clear." The look on his face and the tone of his voice was daring the noble woman to challenge him.

Kushina was sweating furiously beside Naruko and Satsuki who was hiding behind Minato. As much as it was what they all felt they liked living and not being confined to a dungeon in the darkest basement of the Daimyos palace.

The noble woman looked between the hog tied cat and the blonde genin who dared speak to her like that. "Its about time one of you genin showed some backbone. I much prefer dogs but my husband the Daimyo likes to see you twerps squirm, plot and scream yourselves raw" Lady Shinji said retrieving the money for the mission and tossed it on Minatos desk. She noticed the slack jawed expression of the Hokage and the three women hiding behind him. "What? I despise felines. Mangy things have too many needs. Change a litter box, much more scutinous diet to keep track of and don't even get me started on.." She ranted for nearly twenty minutes before stopping with a huff. "Do what you want with the monster, I don't particularly care." Just like that the Daimyos wife left.

Naruto grinned a bit demonically further scaring the three women as he stalked over the still bound animal. "Oh Kikyo, I have a present for you" Naruto said with a creepy sing song voice. Said winged serpent appeared with a curious look. "Lady Shinji ever so generously gave us permission to do what we want with her former pet. Still want to ea-"

Naruko gulped and steeled herself before darting out to scoop up Tora since she kind of liked the cat and she was the only one the feline never scratched. "You are not letting her eat Tora" she said defiantly. "Shes coming back with me. Hows that sound my little precious kitty?"

Naruto scoffed at the sickly sweet coddling of the mangy cat. "Oh well" he said shaking his head and held up a live mouse by the tail squeaking in fear and futilely trying to escape. Quicker than the women could do anything Kikyo swallowed the mouse whole and curled up happily on Narutos head while the four people could only gawk at him. "So can we get a real mission already? I tire of wasting my time on chores civilians are too lazy to do on their own" he said scowling.

"Uh well thats up to your teams sensei. While you have done enough D-ranks to qualify the decision rest with her if she thinks you as a team are ready for a C-rank" Minato said finding his voice clearing his voice. "Do you think they're ready for a C-rank Kushina?"

"Naruto sends a shadow clone to do the 'chores' and trains independently that hes given Gai a run for his money and won, quite literally" Kushina said with a shudder remembering the sonic boom the two made racing along the village walls scaring the civilians senseless. "Swords skills with his summons weapon are easily on par with Yugao if his spars with her ending in ocassional draws are a sign. Ninjutsu and genjutsu are more than acceptable. Taijutsu has only improved since he started training with Gai." The three women in the room shuddered remembering watching him run a suicide gauntlet of traps through Forest of Death with level five gravity seals and being chased by an enraged Anko somehow giving the purple haired kunoichi the slip to their astonishment. "As for both Satsuki and Naruko they're improving everyday as well, not leaps and bounds like Naruto but at a much faster rate than what I have observed of their graduated and passed classmates" Kushina waid

"Except Satsukis obsession with trying to bed me is getting worse by the day" Naruto said irately.

"Overall, I think they can handle a C-rank" Kushina said pointedly ignoring Narutos words about the Uchiha girl.

"Very well. Maria, send in Tazuna the bridge builder. Its a simple escort mission so you shouldnt run into any problems I expect" Minato said as he pulled out a mission scroll from the C-rank pile and tossed it to his wife.

"Whats this? I pay good money for an escort and you give me children? You must be joking." An older man with graying hair, a large sun hat on his head and glasses walked into the room with a sake bottle in hand.

"Tazuna-san was it?" Naruto asked with an eerily calm smile approaching the man. "Right now I could think of fifty ways I could kill you with a pencil and the only people who could stop me are thing one and thing two over there" he jerked a thumb at Kushina and Minato who were sporting twitching eyebrows "so I suggest you show us the respect that we deserve as shinobi. Escort missions are simple missions so you do not need a squad of say chunin or jounins. At the most we may run into bandits and trust me when I say they will die. Violently. Most likely by my hands since I dont give any value of human life or dignity to low life trash like bandits or mercenaries. Unless you are lying to us about the dangerousness of the mission" he said.

"Naruto stop scaring the client" Kushina said noticing Tazuna shake slightly under her sons gaze. "We'll meet you at the gate in an hour Tazuna-san and dont worry. Even if we do run into bandits I am a jounin so I am more than capable of handling them."

"Hes lying to us" Naruto scoffed once Tazuna was out of the office. "His level of fear and anxiety spiked when I mentioned him lying about the mission rank. Unless I am the only one whose keeping up with current events then everyone should know the recent emergence of a large shipping company based out of Kiri called Gatou Shipping."

"Whats that got to do with anything?" Satsuki asked with a scoff.

"A lot if you let me finish. Where precisely are we to escort Tazuna-san back to Kushina-san?" Naruto asked.

"Nami no Kuni though I dont see where this is going either" Kushina said with her eyes narrowed trying to piece the puzzle pieces together.

"We've been attempted to be had is what" Naruto said swiping a finger across a seal on his wrist grabbing sheafs of paper that appeared after a brief flare of chakra. "Gatou is a crooked businessman that has shady backwater dealings with nearly every criminal faction out of Kiri that is supporting the current Mizukage Yagura that is the cause of the current civil war and bloodline purges in Mizu no Kuni. According to Jiraiyas reports" he laid down the papers in his hands before Minato to look at "Gatou Shipping has a headquarters in Nami no Kuni where he bases a lot of his operations. Drugs, human trafficking, sexual slavery and more shipped out on 'legitimate' export ships to the other great and minor nations. Going further with Jiraiyas reports Nami no Kuni is an island nation who relies solely on imports to sustain itself and Gatou Shipping is the only import vein they have so they get taxed to near death. If Tazuna is worried about 'bandits' attacking him that means theres going to be shinobi attacking and trying to kill Tazuna since if his bridge gets built connecting Nami to the mainland"

"He can no longer drain the country dry and exploit its people" Minato finished clenching his hands. "How did you get your hands on these Naruto?"

"Jiraiya may be as lacking and as prophecy focused as you two dunder heads but he finds my conscious wider world view scarily observant to things outside the village that he unofficially, his words not mine, 'adopts the emo thunder cloud as my spy apprentice'. I showed him a fuckin thunder cloud after that" Naruto growled in annoyance. "Anything of major importance that is not need to know of jounin clearance or higher I get a copy of when he comes through."

"So what are we going to do Kaa-san, Tou-san? Lying about the dangers of a mission is grounds to blacklist the client. But if all these reports are true and they are as bad off we can't no do anything" Naruko said petting a purring Tora in her arms worriedly.

"I should say we tell go the gate and Tazuna fuck off for lying to us" Naruto ignored the incredulous looks at his callous words "but I need a good workout. So I say we take it anyway but add on a secondary objective to kill Gatou. We cut off the head of the snake and transfer the ownership of Gatou Shipping to Nami for legitimate business then they can pay the excess balance of a B-rank mission back to us once they get financially sound again" Naruto said.

"Well... I cant fault your logic on one hand. On the other B-ranks are reserved for seasoned chunins and higher"

"And what am I, chop liver? I spar with jounins on the regular and win roughly 60% of ths time. I spar with Yugao and draw ties with her in armed combat we know thats her specialty for reasons. Plus" Naruto jabbed a finger at Kushina "crazy psycho chakra sucking and suppressing chains, why are you worrying? Worst comes to worst she has to summon back up with your instant back-up summon seal for a squad of higher rank depending on the severity of the opposition."

"Koi, hes right. The pros outweigh the cons in this situation" Kushina said shaking her head. "We'd be no better than that tyrant if we left them to suffer under that asshole. We'll take it and we will be fine. Go pack for a two week mission and meet me at the gate in half an hour." Satsuki and Naruko left via the window while Naruto reorganized the reports and sealed them back up in the seal on his wrist.

"Dont forget your sword Kushina-san, things tell me this mission will be fun. I do hope you remember how to use it though" Naruto said with a smirk before he disappeared in a vortex of fire.

"Should we worried about him? He seems a little too...excited" Kushina said with a worried glance to her husband.

"Maybe.. Its probably just nerves. I hope" Minato said trying to convince them both.


	7. First signs of a Demon

It was a widely known fact it was best not to incur the ire of one Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze if you valued your health. It was widely known how violent he got when he was irritated as evidenced by the episode with one brash Inzuka heir at graduation from the academy. So why was it he was irritated right then? Many reasons actually. Naruko was chittering away a mile a minute about some insignificant magazine article that no one but her seemingly cared about while picking at the wrappings on a kunai handle making a metalic clinking sound saturate the air. Satsuki was hanging back as the 'rear guard' and he was certain her eyes were glued on him like a lust driven lunatic while she laughed in what most civiliand would deem a crazy or evil way with the barest hints of a smirk on her lips. Tazuna was on his way to being drunk and becoming more obnoxious by the minute. Kushina, well he wasn't annoyed with her surprisingly. She was actually being completely professional and minding their surroundings for threats like a real shinobi or kunoichi worth their salt should while the other two genin were not.

"Kushina-san.. Can I please take point before I put a level seven silence seal over your daughters vocal cords and bind her hands so her motor mouth obnoxious nervous tendencies doesn't tell every bandit in the area where we are" Naruto asked with a twitching eyebrow and a scoel. The tone in which he said it was more of a demand than a question as he took point in the formation. 'Kami its like I'm surrounded by children!' he raged mentally.

'Kit you are technically by merit of your age children even if your headband says you are legal adults' Hitomi said with a tsk tsk sort of tone. 'Besides, I thought you would like having a girl check you out. Of course the Uchiha bitch isn't my idea of a girl thats good material for anything other than a whorehouse..'

'Now now litte sister, be nice' Leviathian admonished with a shake of her head. 'I despise her clan as much as you and our other siblings do but I know even you do not truly wish such an ill fate on the girl. Even if she a self centered, ego driven, self serving manipulative cunt.'

Naruto shook his head as his mother and aunt bashed on the Uchiha princess. 'If I want a woman to check me out in that fashion I think I would prefer a woman like Anko-san. All these children pretending to be true kunoichi only make those who proudly do the title justice look bad' he thought with a scowl. Unlike most new generation shinobi he didn't look down on his female counterparts. Shinobi were better suited naturally for more frontal and full out offensive lines of ninja works since they developed more muscle mass and by extension larger chakra reserves so throwing out jutsu in prolonged combat was easier. Kunoichi on the other hand were able to infiltrate the more subtle edges of the jobs; information gathering, often having easier times with assassinations since most women now were viewed as unassuming and the like. Then again he conceded points could be made where either gender with the correct conditioning and training could fill both sides of the coin.

'Kit, are you running a fever or something? Cause I think I just heard you say something more crazy than normal' Hitomi said pinching herself and growled lightly at the light pain. 'Did you just say you would prefer a woman like Anko Mitarashi checking you ok? He must be getting sick onee-sama.'

'Actually little sister I agree with my cute little nephew. Despite all appearances Anko-san is a respectable kunoichi who has gotten the brunt of a shitty stick. Sure she dresses like a slut but ths way she carries herself says its all a front' Leviathan said propping a hand on her cheek. 'Think about what happened to her and precisely where she works within the village. Its an image, not how she is.'

Naruto tuned out the conversation at that point as his mother and aunt got into a little tirade about Anko and held up his hand for the group to stop. "Two puddles up ahead in the road. Minimal amounts of residual chakra in the air suggests genjutsu. My senses pick up the smell of iron and mist drifting on the breeze. Ths logical conclusion is that these ninja are supposed to either be a test or the first encounter for the real threat." The message was done with silent handsignals most jounin and higher ranked shinobi learned for higher ranked missions so as not to compromise their positions.

"Maa maa Naruto, relax a little and enjoy the scenery. You're always so tightly wound. Perhap you and Satsuki should go on a date or something when the mission is over. The both of you are wound like springs about to burst all the time" Kushina said strolling past her son and flashed back a silent confirmation signal behind her back.

"I'd sooner willingly drink a gallon of bleach and pop a hundred cyanide capsules" Naruro snorted with a growl. Even if Kushinas words were to lay the illusion all was natural he didn't appreciate gest of her words.

"Thats uncalled for onii-san. Satsuki isn't that bad of a person" Naruko said with a scowl. Sure the Uchiha had more than a few screws after what Itachi did but no ninja worth their salts had all their nuts bolts in place. Kakashi had his tardiness, Kushina was really dark in her humor, her dad was a complete spazz that should somehow contradict his genius status yet it didn't, she herself was ditzy when it came to most civilian affairs and her elder brother.. well he was a heartless asshole. To everybody.

'Not everyone little kit. He treats that dirty snake bitch well enough. Treats her with respect and he treats you like dirt' hissed the dark voice in Narukos mind. Oh the yang half of Kyuubi did not like her container one bit but if she could manipulate the jealousy the young woman hid so deeply in her heart to cause trouble she would.

"Then you have her because quite frankly if I find one more of my jackets conveniently missing and they just conveniently are in her possession I'll run her through witb Benihime. Council be damned. Shes a fucking stalker with one too many screws loose that shes only a ninja so she can unlock the Sharingan. Once she does I'll bet you that her first major injury she gets the coucil revokes her ninja license and forces her into the CRA so the village has the next generation of Uchiha popping out between her legs" Naruto said with a cold dead glare aimed Satsuki.

"Naruto thats enough! Apologize to your team mate" Kushina barked at the blonde. Even if it was damn near right on the mark for truth he didn't have to put it like that.

"Why? Shes the councils little pet project. Shes just another puppet on the strings of her superiors, might as well tell her where her strings will end her up" Naruto said with a dark scowl. "You like her clan less than I do so why defend her? Bunch of arrogant thieves with the eternal stick up their asses who think they're Kamis gift to the world."

Satsukis eyes festered with rage at the last comment. It wasn't the first time Naruto had spoken ill of her kin and she had let it slide since he was blunt about particular people in those instances, people who were guilty of crimes that warranted the ill words from the blonde. She would not howerver tolerate a broad stroke slander of her clan since there had been a lot of good innocent people too and they outnumbered the stains by orders of magnitude. "And what makes you so high and mighty huh?! You talk like your shit don't stink!" she snarled ferociously.

"My forebears created every seal they used by their own hardwork. My forebears did not actively seek war like the Uchiha clan did or have you forgotten Uchiha Madara? By measures of the ancient Daimyo laws that were preserved he was a war criminal for his actions inciting many major unnecessary battles that killed not just a large bulk of Uchiha ninja but what would become the founding clans of Konoha" Naruto said not even looking back. "The Uzumaki clan of the ruined nation Uzushiogakure was a neutral clan that never sided with anyone in any armed conflict until Iwa, Kiri and Kumo attacked it. Twenty five thousands cowards against an island nation of seve-"

"Eighty five hundred people. At the time there was an active shinobi register of three thousand shinobi, nearly a thousand academy and the rest were civilians. Mainly women and children. For three days my clan fought before the fall" Kushina said with a dark look. "But we took most of them down with. We evacuated who we could but it wasn't many. The survivors of the massacre scattered to tbe four winds of the nations."

"The point is Uchiha" Naruto stamped his feet hard in the puddles as the sickening crunch of skulls caving in penetrated the air and blood seeped out as the genjutsu failed with the sudden stop of chakra revealing corpses at his feet "you're clan steals willy nilly from friend and foe seeking war fof wars sake to satiate your bloodlust. Those of Uzumaki blood, we end it when we get involved" he said as he severed the heads of the nin and sealed them up. "Demon Brothers Meizu and Gozu, stands to reason we'll run into their associate Zabuza Momochi Kushina-san" he said after sealing the bodies in separate scrolls. 'Wonder if the Hunter Division accepts body bounties to disseminate secrets from the actual bodies themselves' he thought stroking his chin for a moment as Satsuki blanched at his callous brutal display.


	8. Civilian realizations to ninja truths

Tazuna gulped audibly seeing the sheer ruthlessness displayed by the blonde boy. He knew that ninja were cruel and efficient in their actions but holy shit was it different to see up close personal!

"Tazuna the only reason why you aren't dead or walking back to your decrepit country alone is because I personally convinced the Hokage to allow the missions continuance despite you lying to us" Naruto said wiping blood from his sword. "The fact that the Demon Brothers were the first bump in the road means we face much more serious threats down the road." He turned his gaze to glance at Kushina. "Do you wish to inform the relic over there of the new mission negotiated terms or should I?" he asked.

"Despite every right to turn the mission down and blacklist your country from ever requesting missions completed by us again, valid arguments were made by my son to have it made. Your country will pay the remaining balance of the upgraded mission pending the ranking it makes with the opposition we face. You will given a set time period for your country to financially get back in the black after which we will expect payment of the due balance. Pending the balance being paid I am more than certain my husband the Hokage would be more than satisfied with a temporary trade deal for commercial shipments of natural resources like metals and the like" Kushina said as she rifled through her scroll pouch. Finding the right tag she was looking for she set it on the ground and activated it witb a flair of chakra.

"You summoned back up." Once the cloud of smoke cleared a squad of ANBU was visible.

"Yes we did. Pending further threat analysis our C-rank escort is now a B-rank at minimum" Kushina said before Naruto butted in.

"The Demon Brothers Meizu and Gozu attempted an ambush. They failed and are dead. The logical conclusion states we will run into their associate A-rank missing nin Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of The Bloody Mist. Hokage-sama has allowed the continuance of the mission with a secondary objective, the assassination of criminal asshat Gatoh of Gatoh Shipping" Naruto said.

The ANBU looked between themselves before glancing to Kushina for confirmation. Seeing the woman nod the head ANBU sighed rubbing his mask where his temples were located. "And you wish us to do what exactly?" he asked.

"Forward scout and deal with any threats. When we reach Nami no Kuni scout out for thugs or undesireables employed by Gatoh to extract information from. If it all possible neutralize the target and the insects he employs before he becomes a bigger problem than he is already and seize all the assets you can before destroying his base" Kushina said summoning her sword from a seal on her wrist and securing it at her waist for an easy draw.

"Forgive me a moment ANBU-san but I have a question" Naruto said drawing shocked stares from team mates and Kushina. "Do you know if the Hunter Division takes body bounties? I already seperated the heads from the Demon Brothers corpses for claiming the bounties on them but I wasn't quite sure that the Hunters took bounties to disseminate the secrets from intact enemy corpses."

The ANBU looked at each other, well as their masks allowed, for a long moment before the second in command spoke with a femine voice. "We cannot be certain. Given the duties associated with the Hunter Corps finding enemy corpses intact is hardly ever a case. You would be better off speaking to the Head Hunter" she couldn't help her squads snicker at the bad pun "about that when you return to the village."

"Hmm... Very well, I appreciate your honesty ANBU-san" Naruto said politely inclining his head to the dragon masked woman.

"Lets move out people. I want to make decent ground before night fall" Kushina said with an annoyed glint in her eyes. Her son showed respect to a woman he didn't know the identity of and she, along with her husband his own twin, got a cold formal by the name recognition.. damn right she was annoyed! At least it was starting to get even marginally better for her and Naruko, so it seemed. Naruto wasn't actively going out of his way to be where they were anymore since he acknowledged Kushinas expeience was a good means for training and Naruko despite her minor flaws amused him with her inadaquecies that came to kenjutsu but neither did he actively seek them.

"Onii-san, why do you care if those guys have bounties? I know you moved out and pay all your own bills now but I know mission pay covers that by the time its due" Naruko asked curiously.

"It does but it doesn't hurt to have a rainy day fund. Besides that, if the Hunter Division can discover the secrets to techniques that the Demon Brothers used while they were alive it gives us an unfair against Kiri ninja in the future since most likely techniques they used are a common thread among many Kiri shinobi. Knowing how a technique operates and how the body reacts to the molding of chakra to perform it can let a shinobi properly counter-attack to do the most damage and nullify the technique that their enemy was going to use in the first place. Proper utilization of knowledge is a much deadlier weapon than any jutsu or weapon Naruko-san" Naruto said.

"Very well said and true. You could have the biggest reserves of chakra, strongest jutsu and the sharpest weapon on a battlefield but if you don't have the knowledge to wield them effectively you can die as easily as if you do not possess any" the lead ANBU, a young man in a frog mask, said before he and his squad disappeared into the trees.

'The dragon masked ANBU woman was checking you out kit' Hitomi said with an amused sing son tone. Even if ANBU had masks to protect their identities the ways certain parts of the body channeled chakra told a lot more than many realized if anyone knew how to interpret the flow.

'Eh, I'm flattered then. Shes obviously a serious kunoichi like Anko-san so I have no problem with it' Naruto thought with a shrug.

'Well look at my cute nephew the little stud drawing all the older womens attention. You know, they say older women are more... knowledgable and willing to teach younger lovers' Leviathan purred in a teasing tone. She nearly doubled over in laughter as Naruto tripped over a rock when she said it and had to catch himself on a tree for support.

Naruto tried his damnedest not to blush at the context of his aunts teasing words but god damn it that didn't work. Thank Kami above he was in point so no one saw his very faint blush. "Kikyo.. do me a favor. Dispel and give your mother a smack upside the head for me" he muttered.

"Why? What did kaa-san do?" Kikyo asked with her childish teasy tone. Naruto whispered just why and the young leviathan looked incredulous and scowled. "Right away." She poofed away.

"Something wrong Naruto?" Kushina asked noticing the blondes stumble as they walked. She got no answer beyond 'perverted boss summon calling me cougar bait' and other half mumbled ramblings.


	9. The first gear begins to turn

A/N: this chapter, last and maybe the next two or three are going to set up for later in the arc that will effect the story as whole. I meant to put this in the last chapter but meh, here it is. Emotional build-up serves a purpose I promise

.0.

For three days the group was met with safe travels. Besides a few bandits that the ANBU deemed too low a threat to be dealt with leaving Kushina to do so, making the woman annoyed, the road was clear of danger. "nd I don't understand what I'm doing wrong" Naruko pouted as she vented to her mother. She had been trying for the last three days of their travel to draw her brother into conversation but all attempts failed. She tried talking about training, he told her to do it instead of talk about it. She tried talking about summons, he told her that he would give his contract up before he gave up more than absolutely necessary to anyone and she was not someone who needed to know jack squat.

Kushina sighed and rubbed her temples trying to kill a growing migraine. "Listen musume, I know you're trying but we are making headway. I mean he may laugh at your utter failures in kenjutsu and only acknowledge my experience in the field as a resource for training but at least he isn't actively avoiding us anymore. Too bad the same can't be said for your father" she said with a grimace. Just thinking of the last encounter not sanctioned under shinobi business made her shudder remembering the mess it became with Narutos swords in a scissor position to take Minatos head off and her husband having a raiton chakra charged kunai inches from penetrating Narutos stomach after the two had a battle of words that got heated much too quickly and much too violently.

"I know we're making headway but..." Naruko grimaced closing her eyes at a sudden pain in her head. "There has to be something we can do. Hes family kaa-san..." Her eyes drifted to her brothers form pressed against a tree staring at the sky as the first stars came out.

"If we push any harder he may just leave us all together. Let things go with the flow princess. I'm sure we'll get him back, not sure your brother or father will have a bridge to connect if things progress between them as is, but we just might. I hope" Kushina said. "Get some rest, your guard shift is in four hours."

Naruko sighed and nodded crawling into her own tent. 'I hope kaa-san is right' she thought to herself as she laid in her sleeping bag and let sleep take her fairly quickly.

"Something on your mind Naruto?" Kushina asked taking a seat on a log ten feet from her son. The look on his face was rather thoughtful with his eyes half lidded with a squint reminding her of Shikaku when he played shogi.

"Nothing of concern involving you Kushina-san" Naruto replied letting one eye open fully to glance sideways at her. "I figured you would be sleeping right now since I drew first watch. Did you need something of me?"

Kushina sighed internally debating on whether she should actually ask the question that wanted to escape her lips. "Just one question and I would ask that even if you do not respect me in the respect of being your mother" she ignored the scoff that escaped him "that you show me the respect as a human to answer what I'm about to ask you without the snide remarks you usually give" she said leaning her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands.

"Snide remarks are duly earned Kushina-san or has your husbands forgetfulness rubbed off on you?" Naruto asked.

"I wanted to ask what it would take for you to give your sister and I a second chance. Before you go and bite my head off, I know. I have a lot of nerve to ask such a thing right? Naruto..Sochi... We fucked up bad. We abandoned you to your own devices thinking your sister needed the more pressing help considering she has the oppressive and corrosive yang chakra" Kushina said holding a hand up to cut off his no doubt poison laced words he wanted to hurl at her. "We favored your sister. Gave her everything. And if I could change it all to keep it from coming to this... I would even if it killed me in the process."

Naruto skeptically looked at the redhead with cold blue eyes. "Whats your point?" he asked bluntly.

"I want to know how your sister and I can at least try to repair the damage we caused. We want to prove we actually want to be at least trustworthy in your eyes. Thats it. We want a chance to repent" Kushina said standing up. "Just think about it. And you were wrong. As happy as I was about having twins, He wanted a girl to spoil and pamper. I was far more excited about you, my son. My pride and joy, so strong in so many senses. Even if it means nothing to you by now, I'm proud to be your mother and I love you more than you realize." She turned and left toward her tent leaving Naruto in silence.

Narutos eyes followed Kushinas form as she went into her tent and zipped it up. 'Shes got nerve' he thought darkly as his eyes shifted back to the sky.

'I can't believe I'm going to say this nephew but.. give them a shot. They did a horrible thing to you and that I can't nor will I ever forgive but holding a grudge will sour you from the inside out. Pull them aside tomorrow and talk to them, give them one chance between them both' Leviathan said curling up on her bed inside his head.

'Why should I? Minatos burned his bridge completely after the last encounter. Whose to say they're not in on some sort of plan with the blonde bastard' Naruto thought with a snort scaring a colony of just waking bats.

'And whose to say they are? I am your mother kit and I always will be. The way she spoke, the inflections of her voice, even the way she looked at you screams of a desperate parent trying to reconnect with their young and your aunt will agree. Talking to them with a truth seal can give you the peace of mind to know if they try to deceive you' Hitomi chimed in.

"Can't win for trying can I?" Naruto muttered with a groan. "Fine I'll talk to them but you two are going to be there as well, only way I'll do it." The mental cheers made him snort again. "Troublesome women." The minor headache from mental slaps to his head didn't bother him as he whistled quietly and Kikyo settled on his lap before she changed into her human form. "Bedtime for you cousin" he said as she snuggled into his chest and hugged him tight.

"Nu uh, I can help you keep watch" Kikyo protested as she nuzzled against him.

"I'm going to need you at full strength tomorrow so rest. I have a feeling something is going to happen. I'll wake you if something happens, I promise ok" Naruto said flicking Kikyos forehead lightly. "Now sleep or I make you sleep with the plushy instead of curling up on me."

"Fine... No need to be mean" Kikyo pouted cutely and yawned silently as she got comfortable in his arms. "Night Naru-kun."

"Good night" Naruto said quietly as Kikyo began to fall asleep. 'Silly girl. I might be your comfortable pillow but I'm not one' he thought with a soft mental laugh as he gently brushed strands of her hair from her face.

'You love her don't you?' Leviathan asked with an almost qietly thoughtful tone of voice.

"Course I do. Shes family and I'll always protect her. Even if it means putting myself in harms way to make sure she doesn't get hurt" Naruto said in a near whisper as he kissed the top of Kikyos head.

From within his mind the two women shared a long sideways glance before shaking their heads simultaneously. They'd leave it for now and maybe Naruto would see it of his own realizations. Skewed as his view on family dynamics so was love it seemed. If he couldn't see that Kikyo was attached to him beyond just being family then maybe it was time for a little talk to set him straight.


	10. Did Hell just freeze over?

"Ne kaa-san, is it just me or is the fog really thick outside? Like unnaturally thick" Naruko said peering out the window of the boat cabin. Tazuna made a non-committal grunt before he returned to talking to the boats driver in hushed tones.

"Considering our relative closeness to Mizu no Kuni and our likely opponent its not surprising. Zabuza is a master of the Silent Killing kenjutsu style in collaboration with Kirigakure no jutsu to disorientate his opponents. My suspicions lie in this is natural fog since I can't sense any residual chakra in the air" Naruto said not looking up from his book.

"Kirigakure no jutsu?" Naruko asked tilting her head slightly. The name was familiar but she wasn't sure why. "Whats it do exactly? The names familiar to me for a reason but I'm drawing a blank."

"Its a supplementary suiton jutsu that summons a mist that is laced with the casters chakra. Since Zabuza is a former Seven Swordsman of The Mist he and the others were taught the Silent Killing, some call it the Silent Homicide style outside of Mizu no Kuni, style of kenjutsu. With the mist cast visibility becomes near zero so the Seven Swordsman were taught a style of kenjutsu that relied on their ability to track and kill their targets based on tracking them through sound" Kushina said pleasantly surprised at how knowledgable Naruto was. 'Then again Jiraiya did claim his as his spy apprentice... Oh shit.. What do Jiraiya and Tsunade think of us?!' she thought internally having a panic attack.

"That is correct Kushina-san. Considering his weapon of choice is a zanbatou its safe to assume should we run into Zabuza-san it will be a wide open area since zanbatou are too large to work effectively in confined spaces" the frog masked ANBU said. He noted the moment of terror in her eyes and wondered if it was the prospect of potentially fighting one of the Seven Swordsman. The look fled too quickly though for it to be that as it was gone in a split second.

"How do we fight him then? If we can't see him and he can track us by sound then we're already dead aren't we" Naruko said tensing up. 'No! I can't think like this! I can't be weak in front of onii-san!' she chastised herself and smacked her face to center herself.

"Modified explosive tags."

"Perhaps you can explain Naruto-san" the female dragon masked ANBU said tilting her head curiously.

"Modified explosive tags" Naruto said drawing a tag out like it was the simplest thing out there with his free hand. "The primary detonation of the tag keeps it explosive and damage dealing purpose. However the modification to the sealing array is two fold. Unlike a normal tag the compression seal that sucks in oxygen is replaced with a vortex seal designed by Mito-sama herself. It'll suck in chakra, debris, chakra based techniques etc as well as the oxygen needed for the ignition seal to spark the compressed gas to detonate the tag. The second modification is one I accidentally created during a spar with Maito Gai. When the tag detonates from the chakra primer theres a seal that will release a sonic burst so I'll nicely hand out special ear plugs before hand that will nullify the sound. The pitch of the sound affects the inner workings of ear not only messing with the affected persons balance but also their sense of hearing itself."

Kushina was floored by Narutos explanation and partially scared. If he could do that to an explosive tag just what could he do with.. She shuddered and squashed the thought immediately not even entertaining the thought.

"I'm glad you're on our side Naruto-san. This is a nasty little piece of work" the dragon masked ANBU praised as she looked over the tag. "Without sounding like I'm talking down your skill this is something I would expect out of research and developement or T and I."

"I'm well aware. Ibiki-san and Katsuro-san have both fielded me invitations to join both of their respective departments once I reach chunin after they saw that little beauty and heard about some of my other completed projects after they asked nicely. My explosive tag please" Naruto said he asked lifting his eyes from his book and patiently curled a finger to hand the tag back to him.

Satsuki stared with wide eyes at Naruto. How the hell did he develop something like that?! She knew seals were difficult to master but here is talking about them like its ingredients on how to cook something like rice. "Maybe you could show us-"

"Forget it Uchiha. If our ANBU back up wish to know how to make them I will show them since it would useful to the entire ANBU and Hunter nin forces as a whole but I wouldn't show you if my life depeneded on it. You have a library full of jutsu that your clan stole from friend and foe for well over two hundred years since before the Warring Clans era. I'm not handing you the secrets of my hardwork so you can claim it for your own and gain money off of stolen work" Naruto said with a lazy but soul freezing glare.

"Onii-san, I had a question of about a technique I'm trying to learn but I can't seem to get it right" Naruko said butting in to keep a fight from break out. 'Maybe if I ask him about kenjutsu then he'll actually listen to me and say more than a few snide sentences or ignore me completely' she thought hoping it would work.i

"Ask Kushina-san, Hokage-sama or one of the jounin when we return to Konoha" Naruto said putting the explosive tag back in his pouch. "I don't get paid to train."

"Its about kenjutsu." Naruko did a little happy dance as he seemed to force his eyes to linger for a minute questioningly. "You're always laughing at me messing up so why don't you put your money where your mouth is. You make a big deal about being good, prove it. Help me improve and prove just how good you are."

Kushinas eyes widened at her daughters brazen challenge. This could be the metaphorical straw to break the camels back for the twins.

For a tense minute Naruto stared unblinkingly at Naruko. 'She has an end game' he thought to himself.

'OF GETTING HER BROTHER TO ACKNOWLEDGE HER AND SPEND TIME WITH HER! KAMI YOU ARE SO STUBBORN SOMETIMES!' both Hitomi and Leviathan yelled in frustration.

"Fine. If you fail my expectations or disobey my instructions once I will stop and you will have to find someone else to correct your horrendously attrocious fom" Naruto said slowly. "We will begin back in Konoha since I do not trust you to kill yourself with your sword as your skill sits now and the possibility of facing high ranked missing nin Zabuza Momochi who specializes in kenjutsu." His eyes returned to his book and the cabin was dead silent you could hear a senbon bounce off the floor. "Oh and I'm forbidding your use of the kage bunshin for the duration. Its a cheap short cut and its useless with building muscle memory or physical strength, two things you need for most styles of kenjutsu, Kushina-sans Whirling Dragon style aside which focuses on speed precision attacks and reaction speed over muscle memory of strict kata and power most styles require."

"Hai sensei! I will not disappoint you!" Naruko said bowing her head.

Narutos eyes lifted very briefly and observed Narukos bowed head. His eyes were impassive and looked utterly unimpressed. "See that you do not. I do not impress without due merit so don't expect acknowledgement of even the most minute improvement without meeting let alone exceeding my expectations."

Kushinas eyes widened to near painfully large proportions. She expected Naruto to tear Naruko a new one for speaking to him like that not agree. Even less she had she expected him to already put Naruko through her first lesson already.

"This is as far as I go." The boat stopped as Tazuna thanked the man before the ninja and older man stepped onto solid land continuing their journey.


	11. Important authors note! Read this damnit

Ok so this is NOT a chapter update but something I had hoped I would not need to do but apparently I do. Between pms and reviews, not that I'm trying to sound ungrateful because I am, I'm half tempted to open a bottle of jack to chug half of it straight since they ask the same questions or say the same things over and over. SO heres the long and short of the repeat questions since a lot of people can't read between the lines.

1\. Naruto is OP as shit. Well no shit. Considering hes been actively trained since six years by the half of the Kyuubi that doesn't relish in blind destruction and rage hes going to learn a lot from her, theoretical and practical. Add in that he possesses the Leviathan contract and all it entails, weapons and training in their style of associated styles of combat, in addition to the fox summon contract, which was given to primarily free-in a measurable degree anyway- Hitomi, and yes for a fresh out of the academy genin he could be skewed as OP as fuck. This is by design. Once the chunin exams come around and hes forced to face more field experienced genin this will not the case. The Leviathan summons are not godlike and neither will Naruto. The fox summons will make appearances in a combat setting since they will primarily serve in this story as messengers and support type summons, trackers trap setters and genjutsu support to slow retreating enemies just to name a few. He will face opponents he can't defeat.

2\. Gaps in the story and for the one spineless guest who commented on me drawing out the wave arc. Again, this is by design. There will arcs I skip, arcs I lengthen or shorten in how I do them by chapter amounts. Five chapters in the wave arc is not the worst anyons has ever done. Hell, the worst I can recall of a drawn out arc is nearly ten chapters of his childhood and academy years so do not bitch at me.

3\. While I said romance can become a thing, it is NOT I REPEAT MYSELF NOT meant to be a major focus. Even if I do take the notion to make a pairing, which I am considering though not anytime in the first few arcs, it will NOT be Satsuki given the next actual chapter I publish and you will see why. Suffice it to say it will set up for when the Akatsuki come into play. Anyone else is fair game if you feel inclined to leave a pm in my inbox or in a review along with your thoughts of the story as it stands so far.

4\. His relationship with his family. Kinda speaks for itself huh? Naruto and Minato nearly tried to kill each other so burned bridge there. As for Kushina and Naruko, if I answered this for anyone already in a pm you already know this, may be salvagable.

5\. This is cliche and unoriginal. Well piss the fuck off then. Am I holding a gun to your temple and making you read it? No? Ok then, go the fuck away.

6\. Did Kushina really only want girls or does she really not love Naruto? She already answered that herself so moving on.

FINALLY the one irritates me the most, well irritates is a strong word for it but annoys fits quitd well too, there is a few trying to say 'You should do this' or 'You should do that because it would fit so well and be cool'. I know what I want this story to turn out to be like people! Its great you are so interested in my story and want it to flourish it but if you want to do something a specific way WRITE YOUR OWN STORY AND POST IT!

Now that I got that off my chest I feel better. Looking at my inbox innundated with pms of the same thing said in nearly the same way drives a guy mad. That being said, I have a chapter Im working on for this that should be up by friday with the intial fight with Zabuza that will reveal a special weapon to the Leviathan contract and a sort side effect it has on Naruto so be on the look out. After that chapter I'm wrapping up the wave arc the next chapter so two chapter left to the arc and then we move on.

Mind Games and Illusions next chapter will be up sometime today so be on the look out for that too.

End rant.


	12. Questions and losses

"Naruto if you're going to teach that blonde idio-"

"Choose your words carefully Uchiha. I do not care for Naruko-san in the slightest and I am not teaching her out of the goodness of my cold shriveled little black heart. She will learn the bare basics as I had and that is it. My point about your clan library of stolen jutsu stands. Or better yet, flex your precious name to the council and have them weaken the village by making jounin take time out of their day in protecting or bettering the village to train you. You're pretty good at that last I checked" Naruto snorted as he tossed a kunai in the air and caught it by the ring on its descent. "I have far more valuable things to research, experiment and perfect than waste my time in what is effectively remedial base training others who have had more than ample time to master with the vast resources at their fingertips."

Satsuki bristled at Narutos words though she did not show it. He should be OVERJOYED she was asking him to teach her! He should be on his knees kissing the ground at her feet thanking her for the opportunity to spend her time learning from him! 'The council will make you teach me! And then you will have to give me strong children!' she cackled dementedly in her head.

Kushina and Naruko shared a look between themselves. The hurt look on Narukos face made Kushina scowl at her sons harsh words but the two women agreed the Uchiha brat had more than enough scrolls in her clan library that covered every shinobi art that she could teach herself and not have to bother anyone. In fact they would have LOVED if the egotistical little bitch did just that instead of flaunting her name to the council and demanding that the best jounins train her instead of performing their duties to better the village and keep it safe.

"Hit the deck!" Naruto grabbed Tazuna and, reluctantly, Naruko as a faint whirring sound filled the air. Kushina and the ANBU members managed to get out of the path of the death saw racing through the air. However it was as the jounin, ANBU, Naruto, Naruko and Tazuna all avoided the death blade that a sickening squelch was heard. As the resounding thunk of metal meeting wood resounded all eyes turnes to the last Uchiha. For a moment she looked fine, looked being the key word. Nano-seconds after thin rivlets of blood trailed down her stomach as she patted it, the weak pressure seperating her torso from her lower stomach and legs.

Narukos eyes widened in horror before she lost everything in her stomach.

"Awe, poor wittle baby never saw a comrade die?" a cruel dark voice asked laughing. All eyes, save Naruko and Tazuna who joined the young woman in puking, turned to spot a man standing on the zanbatou buried blade first in the tree. "Give me the bridge builder and I'll consider letting you all go."

"Zabuza Momochi. A-rank missing nin wanted out of Kiri for the attempted and failed murder of the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura, insane container of the Sanbi. It is quite the honor to meet you I must say" Naruto said forcing himself to his feet.

Zabuza eyed the blonde kid with a modicum of interest. "You don't say? That would explain why the bastard didn't die easily aside from his strength as Kage. How did you come across that information brat?" he asked with a huff.

"Tut tut Zabuza, information is a commodity and sharing commodities with the enemy is not in my style. Though I must request the honor of shaking your hand good sir. Your little stunt with your sword just killed my stalker and I for one could not be happier. You have saved me so much of a hassle with the bullshit she was no doubt scheming in her fucked up and twisted little mind" Naruto said with a slight smirk of a smile.

The ANBU and Kushina looked at Naruto incredulously. He was HAPPY about the death of a fellow leaf ninja? Granted they were too since the decesaed girl was a mockery of a ninja but to asking to shake the killers hand? There had to be something wrong with the blonde genin.

Zabuza looked at the blonde on the road like he had two heads. On one hand the kid reminded him of himself when he was younger with the smirk on his face and the noticeable suppressed bloodlust hiding in his eyes. On the other he couldn't help thinking the kid had a few screws loose. 'Then again every ninja does' he thought to himself. "Since you, your teacher and remaining team mate are going to die anyway I'll humor a dead mans last wish" he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Not that it matters anymore, who was the two halves of flesh of there?"

Naruto strolled toward the missing nin with his hands behind his back, as they had been since the group got off the boat after putting the kunai away an hour ago, and flexed fingers in the same sillent hand signals he used earlier to tell the ANBU and Kushina he had a plan though if there were others watching it would seem he was popping his kuckles. "Well like you said since it doesn't matter anymore, that was the last loyal Uchiha. Wasn't a fan of hers. I prefer her brother over her as an Uchiha. At least Itachi-san was more humble and more skilled outside of other Uchihas reliance on the Sharigan to fight" the blonde genin replied dismissively. "You goin to hop off your damn sword and shake my hand or not? Not honoring a dead mans last wish is a stain on your honor as a swordsman Zabuza." Noticing a seemingly insignificant ident, a slightly off kilter square, on Zabuzas headband triggered a quick memory that made him grin internally.

Zabuza growled in annoyance as he landed on the ground in a crouch, the long hilt of his zanbatou in hand. The kid had balls, he would give the blonde that. "Well I'll be damned kid, add another killed bloodline user to my kill count" the man said with a vicious smirk hidden behind the bandages around the bottom half of his face. Standing fully he offered a hand out to Naruto.

"If only I could properly do so. Your bingo book entry does not accurately state what your true kill count is" Naruto said clasping Zabuzas hand tightly. "The Crimson Toad recalls the Banished Demons to guard the gates." His voice was loud enough for the older ninja to hear but not one else.

Zabuzas eyes widened immensely at the single sentence. "Who are you brat?" he growled not liking the fact the kid knew what he knew. Only a handful of knew about his true motives and allegiances, the blonde brat before clasping his hand tightly was not one of them.

'The Winged Serpent. You and your apprentice have been recalled' Naruto mouthed with an even wider smirk. "No one of absolute importance. Its been an honor and a pleasure to shake your hand Zabuza." The moment he let go twin water vortexes were present for a split second before disappearing completely. "I think I scared him off Kushina-san" Naruto said with a feigned sad tone. "And here I was hoping for a fight. Oh well, can't win all the time I guess." He skipped happily over to the two halves of Satsuki and blinked slightly seeing her cling to her last moments of life.

"As-asshole" Satsuki said coughing up blood.

"Yeah I get that a lot. Can you ya know, die already? As amazing as it you cling to your final moments you're already dead, no force in the nations can save you" Naruto said pulling out a sealing scroll. He scowled as she weakly spat blood on his clothes before it was absorbed into the material leaving it pure white again. "Ok, NOW shes actually dead" he said seeing her heart drop out onto the ground from the strain of gravity.

"What did you say to Zabuza Naruto-san?" the frog masked ANBU asked appearing in front of the genin, his voice hard and all business. He didn't believe for a moment a genin could scare a jounin level missing ninja, let alone scare them off with just a few words. There was more going on than he was aware of and he did not like that one bit.

"Nothing of importance to you Gama-san. Master Jiraiya would be most displeased if the need to know information he carefully cultivates was divulged to those who were not of The Network" Naruto said with a sly smirk as he sealed the two halves of Satsukis corpse into a scroll. Naruko would not understand but the ANBU squad stiffened at the mention and Kushina stood a little straighter. Jiraiya was a grueling taskmaster and did not take well to breaches of secrecy, the last person who did so was made an example of that even Ibiki questioned the Sanins restraint.

"I see. I won't mention this in the report then" the frog masked ANBU said before his squad disappeared into the trees again.

"Lets get going already can we? And why the hell are you all lookin at me like I'm the center of a conspiracy here" Naruto asked crossly seeing Kushina, Naruko and Tazuna intently staring at him.

"I'm starting to wonder if you are" Kushina said to herself.

"Tazuna-san, which way to your home?" Naruko asked snapping herself out of her stare. The man shook his head breaking the stare and started down the road.

'Perhaps you're picking up one too many nuiances of Ankos nephew' Leviathan thought viewing the reactions to his, albeit successful, harebrained idea.

'Appreciating blood and violence is hardly a crime though' Naruto thought back with a mental whine. 'At least I'm not a drunk sexaholic like what Anko leads the villagers to believe. Fear is fun!'

Hitomi bopped his avatar with a giant mallet. 'In the correct doses. That was over the top. Remember how we talked about controlling your bloodlust around 'allies' kit' she scolded him. It had been a pain in the ass since her elder sisters gift of the Sages contract and weapons spiked Narutos bloodlust quite a bit making training to reign it in a hassle.

'Yeah yeah, don't kill comrades just because I want to see blood spilt. But its such a pretty shade of scarlet! Oh and the coppery taste is just di~vine! Kami I wonder the taste of blood and ramen mixed together.. Maybe I can find a vict- I mean volunteer in Nami of Gatohs men to volunteer their for me try it!' Naruto lost himself to his thoughts with a much too big smile of his lips creeping Kushina, Naruko and Tazuna out making the three give him a good ten foot gap between him and them.

"Hes scaring me kaa-san" Naruko said with a shudder hiding on the clear opposite side of Narutos view. The smile was too big, the happy spring in his step and the fact he was skipping without a care in the world was utterly terrifying.

"You aint the only one scared girl" Tazuna said as he threw the door to his home. "Tsunami!"


	13. Bridge Battle part 1: emotions and truth

"So... who gets to tell high and mighty lord seal thief the Uchiha is dead?" Naruto asked once Naruko and Kushina settled at the table after setting their things in a spare room. "I ain't doing it for damn sure. Holier than thou asshole might try to kill me again and I won't hold back seperating his head from his body this time. I saved Narko-san and the client from becoming party favors by warning everyone and dragging them to the ground with me so either one of you two or the ANBU tells him."

Kushina scowled at her sons words but knew it was a serious that needed question to be answered. The council would be pissed Satsuki was dead but as ninja they knew they could die at any moment. "It falls on me as squad leader to do it" she said. Oh she would get an earful from Minato for having to listen to the council but as long as she and Naruko were alive the metaphorical ass chewing she was in store for wouldn't be so bad.

"Pardon me but why is this Uchiha person so important" Tsunami, Tazunas daughter, asked as she set a tray of tea on the table. While Nami was a small country that almost never dealt with ninja villages she was aware some ninja families were famous for special skills and couldn't help wondering if this was a case like that. "Surely one person isn't so important right?" she asked taking a seat on one of the empty chairs.

"Forgive me for saying but wrong Tsumani-san" Naruko said as she stirred a small amount of sugar into her tea. "Imagine your country is one pond of fish. Now, most of the fish are just like you- lets use trout as an example- but your dad is something special in your little pond. Lets say he is something like a koi fish." The blonde female genin watched the older womans nose scrunch up picturing the image in her head before nodding to continue. "Now, if one of the trout disappears its no big deal. You have plenty of trout in the pond to repopulate the trout that get taken or die. Now if the koi fish dies or gets taken you have an issue since theres only one" she said.

"What my daughter means to say without making this a long drawn out explanation, Satsuki was special in the since her clan had a special ability no normal ninja had. With her dead there is no one in our village with it or able to help bring it back into the village population besides her criminal brother who murdered the rest of their clan" Kushina said.

"Not true" Naruto said as he idly stirred his tea with his pinky. "I sealed her body in a preservation scroll. Once we get back to the village the egg heads in the hospital can harvest her eggs and make test tube Uchihas."

Tsunami looked at Naruto with a grimace at his blunt and messed up way of thinking. "Does he have an off switch?" she asked pointing to the other blonde genin.

"No, sadly not. Real ball of sunshine right?" Kushina asked with a chuckle ignoring Narutos hard look. "Hes blunt as 2x4 but hes right in a sense."

"You two, outside." Naruto stood after downing the rest of his tea, the scalding hot liquid not bothering his throat in the least as he stood up. Pushing his chair in he walked outside and waited impatiently as he summoned Hitomi and Leviathan. "I swear if they lie to me and I find out I'm blaming you two" he said with a scowl.

Kushina and Naruko shared a look of confusion before shrugging their shoulders. "We'll be right back Tsunami-san" Naruko said politely with a bow of her head. Following her mother outside she saw Naruto bickering with two women. "Ahem!"

"Bout time. Hold still." The woman on the right with wings and some reptilian features approached slapping a seal tag on their foreheads. "If you want your son and big brother back do not touch those seals. They are truth seals so you won't be able to lie to him" she said before retreating to Narutos side.

"So Naruko-san, Kushina-san.. You two want something of me, spill it" Naruto said crossing his arms across his chest. He had sneaking suspicions but the truth seals would force them to tell him only the truth, any attempted lies would cause them pain. 'Maybe I am picking a few too many of Anko-sans habits' he thought as the stray image of Naruko amd Kushina writhing in agony amused him.

"I want my big brother back.. I was a spoiled brat when we were kids... Cruel, insensitive, mean spirited... They don't begin to cover it. After you moved out I realized how much colder the house was and I took a good long look at myself. I treated you worse than the Hyuuga treat their branch family... I want to make amends big brother...please.." Naruko said tearing up.

Narutos eyes shifted to Kushina who looked entirely uncomfortable under his unblinking stare. "And what of you Kushina-san? I don't trust an iota of your husband after he tried to kill me for pointing out the truth about him being a seal thief no better than any Uchiha after his claim to fame was stolen Uzumaki clan archived seals dating back generations, why should I trust you for anything?" he asked.

"Theres nothing I can say that justifies what I did to you. Leaving you to your own devices, abandoning you to fend for yourself when your sister was treated every bit as a princess... I favored her when I should have trained you both instead of agreeing with Minato to start Naruko early" Kushina said sighing and looking at the ground with shame. "I broke the one tenant the Uzumaki hold highest above others, Family sticks together. If I could back and beat myself within an inch of my own life before it all started I would. But I can't so we ask how we can make amends. We don't want to burn the bridge with you. If we can save it we'll do whatever it takes."

"Anything you say?" Naruto asked raising an eyebrow. Saying something like that to him was like dropping a full Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings and a desert buffet to a starving begger yet he resisted. He would make them sweat it out. The seals was holding up, they weren't in agony in and he had to agree with Hitomi through the mental link even their chakras were radiating truth.

"Anything onii-san. We just want a chance is all" Naruko said as a few silent tears finall fell down one cheek. Here was her big brother, so close yet so far. Hell if he wanted something as sick and depraved as a sexual relationship to unleash his frustrations on her she'd agree in a heartbeat so long as she had him back.

"If or when I choose to refer to you as something other than your name I'll consider you more than strangers I just happen to share blood with. However I happen to be in a good mood with two bounties in my pouch so I'll give you both one chance. So much as one toe out of line against me you're persona non grata, I'll decide what I want from you both later. Got it?" he asked.

Naruko nodded furiously before she ran over and hugged him tight crying into his shirt. It wasn't how she planned it but he was giving her the chance to make up for being a brat and treating him like dirt. The warmth radiating off him made her shiver as she snuggled into him, the faintest mix of blood cologne and nature wafting off his shirt . She couldn't explain why the smell made her relax but it did as she nuzzled her face into his chest.

Kushina watched with humor in her eyes as Naruko practically glomped her brother. Naruto was obviously uncomfortable with her being so close as evidence by a cautionary pat on the head to try dislodging her though it didn't work. Did they still have issues to talk about? Oh yeah, she had a feeling there was going to be a whole lot of talking and demands made in the near future, but the broken family of three was ever so slowly fixing itself.

"Oh stop looking like you two are enjoying this!" Naruto said with a growl looking at Leviathan and Hitomi grinning at him. "If you aren't going to add anything then dispel already. We'll talk about this later!" His snappy tone made the women snicker as they dispelled themselves.

"Who were they Naruto?" Kushina asked. "The two women I mean and why did they look so pleased with themselves?"

"Hitomi kaa-san and Auntie Leviathan the Leviathan contract boss. They were the ones that pushed to give you a chance to redeem your failings" Naruto said finally freeing himself from Naruko as she took a deep inhale of his unqiue scent weirding him out slightly.

"Hitomi...Hitomi... The names familiar for a reason and its on the tip of my tongue" Kushina said tapping her chin in thought catching Naruko trying to bury herself in Naruto again.

"You know her as the Kyuubi, the yin half of it anyway. You contained her chakra as a whole before Naruko-san and I did."

Kushina froze in place. Her son thought part of the beast that her clan kept caged for almost two hundred and some odd years more a mother than she was? Her heart broke knowing she deserved it. "O-oh... I see" she said quietly as Naruko succeeded in glomping Naruto again and burying her face in his chest to breath him in a little more.

Naruto scowled and forced Naruko off him again not even fazed by her pout. "Stop being needy and be professional for once. We're in a foreign country with enemy combatants after our client, act your profession" he said. "And stop sniffing me, its weird. I'm not a dog and you aren't an Inzuka scouting out a possible mate."

Naruko pouted more at being compared to, at least it felf like to her, a horny Inzuka but that wasn't the case. She couldn't help finding Narutos scent unique and..calming? The dark whispers of the Kyuubis yang chakra were silent for once leaving her with a sense of clarity. "Sorry... Its just... The whispers finally stopped.." she said quietly.

Naruto critically eyed Naruko before tilting her head up. "What whispers?" he asked. If she said what he thought she would he may be forced to fully forgive and allow her back fully into his life just so she retained her sanity.

"Kyuubis yang half. So dark, so mean, so angry" Naruko said with a shudder as she looked deeply into her elder brothers eyes. "It takes a lot to keep it under control but its been getting worse lately..."

Of course the other half had to be acting up! Against all his own wants and desires to make her fight to earn her spot back into his life Naruto gently wrapped his arms around Naruko and pulled her in close to him. "For your own sanity I'm giving you the simplest yet hardest test" he said quietly in her ear so only she heard. "You aren't allowed to hurt me again. Ever. Except spars, thats different."

Naruko nodded once against his chest.


	14. Bridge Battle part 2: anger point

Naruto stared at the missing portion of the bridge as he panted heavily using a half melted rail as a support. "I may have overdone it" he said to himself. Turning around he saw the amassed crowd of Nami no Kunis people with assorted weapons and his team staring at him with eyes wides as saucers. "Yeah... I overdid."

-Flashback-

For nearly a week while Tazuna worked on the bridge Naruto and crew trained. In that time, after setting a shift schedule on who guarded Tazuna when, Naruko made it a point to spend as much time as possible with Naruto whether it be training or otherwise.

To say she had grown was both a truth and lie at the same time. While her techniques had refined to be smoother and more effective she was still a teenage girl. 'Her motor mouth puts the Yamanaka girl to shame' Naruto thought as Naruko droned on about this romance novel was she reading. "Listen Naruko" he said patiently, it was progress since he dropped the -san from her name, "I know you're going along the guidelines of what a sibling relationship should be but we haven't had one since we were like three. Instead of trying to force it, let it develop as it will."

Naruko blushed in embarrassment as she looked away. Was she really forcing it? She was only doing as she had seen other siblings do, siblings that actually care about each other. "I'm sorry..." she said with a sigh. "I just don't know what to do or say."

'Ask questions of the other kit' Hitomi said surprising the girl. In the week that they'd been training and protecting Tazuna Naruto had injected a small portion of Hitomis yin chakra into Naruko and taken an equal portion of the yang chakra. He had theorized introducing a small amount of the positive chakra would counter-act the negative chakra and force her body to make more of it once it acclimated to the soothing presence. The pair was shocked he was right and not even four days laters Narukos chakra, her natural born chakra, had begun to change from a rich blue to a silvery blue color. Not only was her chakra changing due to the introdution but it established a mental link between Hitomi and Naruko since Narutos experimental swap of their seperate youkais united the two halves of Hitomi in a small measure.

That one suggestion ignited a conversation that was like pulling teeth. For Naruko. Even though Naruto said he forgave her she knew he did it for her own mental sanity and not because of his own desire to. Her questions on certain subjects got answers while others were answered with questions in return. "Is there anything you will just tell me without a run around?" she asked giving up and slumping her shoulders in defeat.

"You're learning." Naruto sounded amused but for reasons that were not immediately obvious. "Siblings have secrets from my understanding. Ours are just much better kept because of our job." He patted her head and stood up. "Lets go, we're all guarding Tazuna since today is the final day of construction with his estimate" he said.

"Oh right" Naruko said blushing again thankful her head was down. It was small, half a baby step really, but it was progress towards a measure of sibling normalcy. Hopping up she dusted off her skirt and legs before she handed Naruto his sword. "So what are you goin to teach me in the village regarding kenjutsu onii-chan?" she asked following the taller blonde genin.

"Wait and see" Naruto replied mysteriously. He snickered at the whine and pout Naruko gave but said nothing to her continue asking. Even with the dreaded Puppy Dog Eyes technique he said nothing. Instead he turned and gave her his own version that trumped the puppy dog eyes. His eyes went from blue to forest green with gold sparkles that glimmered and looked wounded. Given his greater alignment to foxes the look made him look like a sad wounded little kit as his nose twitched just the right way to make Naruko look away before she couldn't resist the urge to glomp and cradle him close. "I win" he chuckled.

"No fair.. That should be a kinjutsu" Naruko said dejectedly. Gone now was her secret weapon now to winning her way around small concessions.

"I had a lot of free time on my hands. Sue me" Naruto said. When the small group arrived at the bridge they arrived to the scene of a slaughter. Corpses of men lined the bridge, blood gore and body parts decorating the surface. Tazuna looked ready to pass out while Kushina looked on with pure rage and Naruko looked sick still but didn't puke this time.

"Well well, you finally showed. You may have scared off Zabuza and his little whore but this ends today. All of you and the bridge will die. Kill them men and then you're free to rape and plunder to your hearts content. The redbead and blonde girl are mine though. They'll make wonderful sluts" a midget with a cane said smirking evilly.

Malicious energy filled the air as Tazuna, Naruko and Kushina stepped back from Naruto. Black chakra surrounded him as he broke the skin on his thumbs doing single handseals on each hand before plumes of smoke appeared revealing Hitomi and Leviathan. "Gather your portions" he commanded as lightning energy crackled and formed in his hand. The two women didn't hesitate and began to collect black and white chakra around their hands, white on Hitomi and black on Leviathan. "Leviathan Hijutsu:" the black and white chakra jumped through him chaining together with his lightning chakra turning it a dark grey as Hitomi and Leviathan laid hands on his shoulders "Shadow Skills First Hell technique- Lucifers Ash Canon."

The chakra seemed to fizzle out as he pointed at the army of mercenaries. They all laughed til one swatted at his skin like he was itchy til they all noticed it. Their skin was falling off like ash from a cigarette! Many panicked and the few that had ninja training tried to use their chakra to do something but it sped process up leaving piles of ashes.

In moments Gato was surrounded by ash, skeletons, clothes and weapons as Naruto stepped forward two steps. "Shadow Skills First Hell technique" Naruto smirked viciously exposing his fang like canines "Impel Down." A column of Hellfire, summoned courtesy of Leviathan, erupted destroying half the bridge where Gato and the skeletons had been. Once the Hellfire was gone it was clear the other half of the bridge was as well. "That was for ordering the rape and murder of innocent people among your many crimes. Burn in hell bastards."

-end flashback-

"Uh, my bad?" Naruto said hoping someone would say something. No answer, just continued mind boggled stares. "I can fix it?"

"You can?" Tazuna said snapping out of his shock.

Naruto nodded and looked to Hitomi since Leviathan had to dispel after summoning the gold Hellfire. "Feed me a tails worth" he said as he flew through a set of seals quickly. "Earth style: Gaias skybridge." As Hitomis youkai fed the jutsu the bridge formed out of the melted clean stone from where his hands lay. The youkai, shaped and formed carefully, promoted rapid creation of the stone deck arching to the mainland and stone pillars to support the deck so it could support civilian and merchant caravan traffic. Keeping his hands on the stone he changed the flow just enough and muttered a quiet 'Seal' before the remaining half a tails worth of youkai burned seals into the stone surface of the entire bridge. "Thanks, get some rest kaa-san" Naruto he said kissing Hitomis cheek lightly before Hitomi disappeared. "The seals will self repair the bridge if it gets damaged in anyway and if the seals detect foul intentions of anyone attempting to enter Nami from the mainland then the nasty defense seals will kick in."

The civilians of Nami let out a roaring cheer as they embraced one another in celebration. Gatoh was dead, the bridge was complete, they were finally free of of the tyranny and financial strangulation- all by the hands of one child. No, not a child but a man; a vengeful angel sent by the grace of Kami above.

"If no one needs me" Naruto looked half dead as he collapsed to his hands and knees "I'm taking a-" His sentence went unfinished as he passed out. Between the use of Impel Down and Lucifers Ash Canon, both the equivalent of A rank fire techniques, back to back in conjuction with using one of Hitomis tails for an A rank earth technique and permanently inscribing seals to protect the bridge it was a wonder he hadn't passed out as the youkai carved the seals into the stone. When he woke up next it was night. His muscle groaned and resisted as he tried to sit up. "God what hit me" he asked. Looking to his side he saw Naruko curled up next to him asleep using his chest as a pillow.

'Shes been worried sick about you kit' Hitomi said watching Naruto just observe Narukos sleeping face. 'Shes refused to leave your side til you woke up. Her stubbornness to make sure you were ok has led your team to stay another night while Nami celeblrates its freedom.'

Naruto was silent as he sighed and gently shifted the sleeping girl off of his chest and climbed out of bed. A quiet whimper drew his eyes back to the bed as he dragged his coat off the chair beside the bed and covered Naruko with it. The way she snuggled into the warm material made him chuckle as the girl calmed buried herself in the comforting scent.

"You're up earlier than we thought you'd be."

Naruto turned spotting the frog masked ANBU in the doorway. "How long was I unconscious?" he asked stretching his arms out.

"Six hours, give or take" the man replied. "The people of Nami have taken to calling you their Angel of Judgement."

Naruto snorted in amusement and rolled his eyes. "I'd like to tell them they're wrong but I won't" he said as he cracked his back ridding himself of the kink in his spine. Passing the frog masked ANBU he spared a glanced at the man. "Make sure she isn't disturbed." His eyes darted to the bed and the older ninja nodded before Naruto made his way downstairs.

Kushina was wrapped up in her own thoughts when the creaking from the stairs broke her train of thought. Like the ANBU that checked on him she was surprised to see Naruto up so soon after all the chakra he expended just destroying Gatoh and his army singlehandedly before finishing the bridge and going so far as to put security measures on it in the form of seals to protect the island nation.

"We leave tomorrow right" Naruto said more than asked. Kushina nodded her head not sure what to say. "I'll be be back then." He then disappeared into thin air.


	15. One strike, Two strike, Angry Sage

"Pardon me? Did you just tell me no." Minato Namikaze was not havng a good day. He had two stacks of paperwork just shy of the ceiling, three scheduled meeting with individual greedy council members and to make it all better he was staring down his wifes team. More accurately, he was staring down his son who refused to elaborate on one tiny detail.

"Yes I did oh mighty jackass, lord of seal thieves. Outside of Satsuki dying and Zabuza running off like a bitch what I said is irrelevant. You don't have the clearance nor are you part of The Network and I'm not having Jiraiya kill me because an impudent man child hasn't heard the word no before. The fact Jiraiya warns about threats to the village from his informants is a courtesy not a right you arrogant prick" Naruto said with a harsh venomous glare.

"You listen to me genin. I am your Kage and you will do as I say or you wi-"

Naruto was having none of it and tossed his ninja license on the desk. "Finish that fucking sentence and I leave. Face the fucking facts here you impudent man child" Naruto hissed with narrowed eyes "you need me in this village. Naruko shows no signs of having inherited either yours or Kushina-sans bloodlines. I have them both and have been training with them since I was six! You're probably god damn sterile from the corrosive exposure to the Kyuubis youkai so you won't be having anymore children, probably not with your wife anyway. Everyone knows you're sleeping with your secretary anyway."

Kushinas angered spiked as Minato glared new opening through Narutos body.

"On top of that, if I leave then kiss your god damn spy network goodbye. Jiraiya despises you for the hell you put me through as a child. Hes no fan of yours either Kushina-san but you're better off since you are trying to wholeheartedly make amends." Naruto saw Kushina relax slightly but her glare focused on her husband could melt steel. "So are you going to drop it or do I just leave and go join a different village? I'm sure Kumo, Suna, Kiri or any number of the minor villages would LOVE to have their ninja ranks bolstered with two new bloodlines and the son of the most feared man in the bingo books."

"Make that the most feared kunoichi in the bingo book too." Kushina tossed her own ninja license on top of Narutos defiantly. She had forgiven far too many acts against Naruto done by Minato in the past. If he wanted to punish Naruto and push him away to another shinobi village she would leave with her son.

"And me too." Naruko tossed her own license on the desk with her mother and older brothers. If he left then so did she. She wasn't going to give him up for the world. If it drew her fathers ire than so be it.

Minato looked outraged at the scene. Naruto he could deal with on his own but for his own wife and daughter to join the mutiny?! Oh he was livid to say the least. He tossed them back with a snarl and a hiss before telling them to leave. "Get me Jiraiya and I don't care if hes fucking the princess of Yuuki no Kuni!" he commanded a summon toad with barely restrained fury.

"You made me an enemy when you tried to kill me you bastard. Claiming my clans seals as your own 'original genius work' was strike one. This is strike two. Don't make strike three because then I go to the Daimyo with the black ledger exposing not only your shady underworld crimes but your advisors and the civilian council pulling your strings like a puppet" Naruto said shoving his license back in his pocket as Kushina and Naruko did too. "We need to train, lets go. Oh by the way" he turned from the doorway flanked by Kushina and Naruko "I know the laws of Hi no Kuni and Konoha cover cover, civilian and military. You can't do anything to me. I'm a dangerous politician as I am a ninja, ask the people of Nami no Kuni."

-Yuuki no Kuni-

Jiraiya moaned as he finally relaxed, his sweat covered form clutching a young woman to his chest. Between the heady perfume that clung to her skin and the smell of sex in the air it was stifling in the room. He was moments from sleep when a poof was heard in the room followed by a ribbity-croak. The shrill shriek from his bed companion made him cringe as the toad looked expectantly at the sage.

"Get your ass up and dressed Jiraiya. That damned failure of a student of yours is demanding your presence" the toad croaked.

"Tell him I said pound sand. He'll get a report tomorrow" Jiraiya said dismissively and pulled the woman back to him. He whispered something in her ear and she seemed to relax but eyed the toad warily.

"He threatened your apprentice. Well he tried to anyways. Naruto, Kushina and Naruko all threatened to turn their licenses in and join another village." Jiraiya immediate sat up leaving the woman laid on her side. In the blink of an eye he was dressed and adjusting the scroll on his back. The toad, taking this as his cue, reverse summoned them to the Hokage tower as Jiraiya fumed.

-Training Ground 44-

Naruto casually strolled into the deadly forest alone as Kushina and Naruko hesitated at the gate. "Onii-san, is this a good idea? I mean this is the most dangerous place in the village" Naruko said hesitantly. Like all the other ninja she knew what was in the forest and had no want to go in. She was rather fond of living and not being animal food.

"Then go train elsewhere. I need to blow off some steam. And restock some dangerous spider venom" Naruto added as an afterthought. "Your first kenjutsu lesson begins at 0500 tomorrow morning. Remember, you fail to follow my orders as I train you correctly in the basic forms of kenjutsu you will find your own teacher. I will not coddle your training like he no doubt has. Manage to complete basic forms training under me and you won't end up skewering yourself mid combat." He fluidly drew a ninjato from his waist, he was too lazy to draw his main sword from the seal on his wrist, and cut the head off a king cobra the size of a german shepard. "After that, you have to find a style that fits your body and someone to teach it to you. Any questions?" Naruto asked catching the head of the kind cobra on the ninjato almost casually.

"No onii-san" Naruko said slightly in awe. He had managed to sense and fluidly kill the snake in one strike while not paying attention as he spoke to her. If she could be that good then she would do everything to impress her brother. "Sorry, I mean sensei."

-Mission Debrief room-

"YOU THREATENED MY APPRENTICE YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHIT!" Very few things got under Jiraiyas skin but threatening or even implying a threat to Naruto was the easiest way to infuriate him in an instant.

"He is one of my ninja and refused to-"

"He is also your son!" Jiraiya seethed with a murderous glare. Spotting the mission report on the desk for Narutos teams latest mission he snatched it up skimming it quickly. "Dead Uchiha... blah blah too bad so sad, not. Demon brothers killed, well good news for the Hunter corps to study the corpses to give us info how to fight Kiri ninja... Zabuza Momochi and accomplices..." The proverbial light bulb clicked before Jiraiya chuckled.

Minatos brow twitched as his sensei began to laugh. "Whats so damn funny? His refusal is insubordination and trea-"

"Shut up." The tone of finality in Jiraiya spelled certain death if Minato finished the word and thd blonde sensed it so he shut up quickly. "Regarding Zabuza Momochi, hes part of my Network. You ARE NOT last I checked. I don't have to tell you about threats to the village. I could leave you to flail about on your own" he threatened with a clipped tone that made the blonde man shudder in fear.

"Sensei I-"

"I didn't give you permission to speak so silence. Zabuza is no military asset to the village so can go sod right off and wank off your little circle jerk of masters. Threaten my godson again and not only will you lose my spy network, your son, your wife and your daughter- I'll make sure the toads find out out PRECISELY how corrupt you have become. They haven't like you since what you did to Naruto, just think how quickly you'll lose your contract. Maybe I'll even join Naruto, Kushina and Naruko in whatever village they choose if you drive them away. Hell, I might offer them the services of my entire network. Just. To. Spite. You." He accentuated each word with a bang of his fist on Minatos desk til the wood gave out and the desk broke scattering paperwork everywhere. "Do I make myself perfectly clear you little shit?"

Minato nodded his head furiously at the demonic visage of his angered sensei. He might be the most feared shinobi in the bingo book but Jiraiya could decimate him as if he was nothing but a green horn genin when the sage was serious.

"You better. Its just a political hop skip and a jump for the Daimyo to just press one little stamp. One little stamp to have your chakra sealed and you incarcerated for the rest of your life for your crimes against Naruto amd this village with your dealings. I happen to possess a copy of the ledger, an insurance policy of Narutos in case you tried anything against him." Jiraiyas normally kind and lecherous grin was vicious as the blonde Kage paled. "Mind the eggshells you walk on Minato. I have eyes and ears everywhere, this village include." With that said the toad sage disappeared in a puff of smoke.


	16. Kenjutsu bootcamp hell: Dodge!

Naruto stood patiently beside bed glacing at his pocket watch before a semi-sadistic smile crossed his lips. Turning the ice cold bucket of water over end he snickered as Naruko shot awake with a scream. Her glare made him snicker even more. "Rise and shine. I told you training begins at 0500 and I meant training begins at 0500. Get up, get dressed and eat something in the next twenty minutes before meeting me at training ground 19. Times wasting." Her attempt to smack him failed as he already was gone in a futon shunshin.

"ASSHOLE! I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A GOOD DREAM TOO!" Naruko roared stomping to her en suite bathroom. She heard a commotion as her parents busted into her room with weapons drawn looking for the threat to make Naruko scream so loud. "Stupid older brothers dumping ice cold buckets of water on unsuspecting sisters... I should put itching powder or something in his laundry and see how he likes unwelcome surprises!"

Kushina facefaulted at her daughters rambmings. 'Seems Naruto was the one to rudely awaken Naruko-chan huh? Well he did say dawn was when he would start to train her basic kenjutsu forms' she thought rubbing the heel of her hand into an eyesocket as she yawned. "Theres no threat Minato. Naruto just gave his sister a rude awakening to remind her that when he says training begins at 5am he means it" she said. The incredulous look from the blonde male was disregarded as she dragged him out of Narukos bedroom.

"You knew about this?" Minato asked with a narrow half asleep glare. Getting a good amount of sleep was a rarity for him as Hokage so waking from a dead sleep to your daughter scream when you only had maybe three hours sleep tops did not make for a happy man.

"You mean the training? Yes I did. She basically challenged him to prove his skill as a kenjutsu practioner since he always laughed at her messing up. I personally thought he would blow up in her face and tell her to pound sand but he agreed albeit before Satsuki died she had demanded training since he was going to help Naruko" Kushina said through a yawn. "Even still, hes not properly training her. He said he would show her bare bone basics like he learned and leave her to find an actual style to fit her body type as well as someone to teach it to her. If you mean did I know he would appear out of nowhere at 4:59am and up end a bucket of ice water on her as a wake-up call, no. I was rather enjoying my own sleep too thank you very much." She glared back and shoved him with her shoulder as she made her way down to the kitchen. 'May as well make breakfast' she thought hitting the power button on the coffee machine and setting it to fill the pot.

Ten minutes later Naruko stomped downstairs dressed in her training clothes with her sword strapped to her waist. Grumbling still about getting revenge she snatched two pieces of toast as she left the compound and ran full tilt toward thd training ground Naruto had specified. 'Of course he chooses one on the opposite side of the village!' she raged internally.

"You're three minutes late. Seems adding speed training may be a first stop. Don't you think Misaki-sensei?" Naruto looked up from his position perched on the lap of a woman very similar in appearance to Leviathan only her hair was pure white, her wings a pale blue and her reptilian slit eyes were the color of molten bronze. "Of course thats rhetorical. Now let me see your blade. Wielding an improperly balanced weapon or the wrong type could be the differnece between life and death."

Naruko glared still but handed Naruto her sword. "You could have shook me awake" she said crossing her arms under her chest childishly. She knew she was being childish but she didn't particularly care at the moment. Naruto assholishly woke her from a dead sleep in one of the meanest ways possible. While he examined her sword as the first rays of sunlight danced across the village she examined him. He was still dressed in his clothes from yesterday, albeit with tears and rips, and his hair was mussed up with leaves while stray drops of blood stained his face.

"This blade will get you injured at best and killed at worst." Naruto tossed the blade up and watched with a carefree gaze as Misaki snapped her fingers and the sword, sheath included turned into a ball of steel. "The heart of the sword was forged wrong, the balance was way too off, the style of blade is wrong for someone of your height and weight. Its like the smith was an amature, who gave you that sword?" he asked.

"Tou-san did. He said it was the sword oji-san used in the Second War" Naruko said looking panicked. Oh her dad would be PISSED when she heard this. It was practically an heirloom and Naruto just turned into raw metal.

"He was going to get you hurt or killed with you wielding that blade" Naruto said bluntly. "The sword as it was was forged for a tall man at minimum six feet tall. The weight and balance weighted toward the leading edge tells me it was designed for one hit kill style of kenjutsu." He hopped off Misakis lap despite the snake-like woman pouting at him. "Grasp the ball of steel, channel chakra into it and Misaki will make the steel reforge itself into an optimal blade for your form" he said.

Naruko did as instructed and watched the metal begin to warp and twist around her hand after Misaki snapped her fingers. In a matter of minutes she was left holding what looked like a rather weird curved short katana with a bronze hand guard, a black leather wrap and a matching bronze pummel with a red tassel hanging off. "I've never seen a sword like this before" she said giving the weapon a cursory glance from all angles. It had the sharpness and curve of a katana but the form was exotic to her.

"Thats because its not a native sword form to Hi no Kuni." Both Naruto and Naruko looked up to spot another person entering the training ground. She looked a little peeved being up this early like Naruko though the focus of why seemed not to be Naruto. Naruko racked her head for a moment to remember ther girls name since she looked familiar. Panda style hair, chinese style kunoichi shirt tucked into shinobi pants and giant scroll on her back- she knew her somewhere.

"Ah Tenten-chan, good to see you could make it. Glad you accepted my invitation" Naruto said smiling warmly at the other kunoichi. "Shes right that its not a native form to Hi no Kuni. That is a Scimatar style sword you would see more commonly in Kaze no Kuni. Well, this is the project I called you about. Remember how I said I would cash that favor in for showing you how to break your sensei and Lees sunset hug nightmare jutsu?" he asked with a cheshire like grin as he pointed at Naruko.

Tenten didn't like the look of that grin. It was a grin that spoke like she was regretting telling him she owed him. "Yeah what about it? I mean her" she asked slowly trying to edge her way out of the training ground.

"You, my beautiful talented kunoichi friend, are going to help me run her though the kenjutsu basic forms from hell bootcamp" Naruto said as his cheshire smirk reached ear to ear. "If you try to get out of it then I will tell your father you are trying to get out a Honor Debt."

Tenten paled and glared at Naruto. "Thats not fair Naruto-kun! I hate training newbies!" she whined and gave him the dread Puppy Dog Eyes stare. "Don't make me do this and I promise a date. I'll even through in a kiss."

"Not interested. You're helping me train her" Naruto said shrugging off the stare.

While Naruto and Tenten talked details of training her in kenjutsu Naruko glared holes through the other kunoichi. 'HOW DARE THAT HUSSY?!' she roared internally. Flirting with her brother in front of her, the nerve of the bitch! Naruto was hers!

'Oh hes yours is he kit? Does the little vixen want her big' Hitomi teasingly stressed the word making Naruko sputter and blush 'to pin her to a wall? Steal your breath away with a carnal kiss driven by passion? Claim your body and soul for his own? Dominate you, make you ride him to the heights of passion as his seed-'

Naruko tossed up a mental wall as her nose began to drip blood at all the perverted images flooding into her mind. 'Damn ero kitsune' she thought unable to look at Naruto knowing she was as red as humanly possible and the moments of tease from the fox excited her in a sense that made her feel dirty because of the slight wetness to her panties. 'Get it together Naruko! Hes your older brother! Your sexy, muscled, big pants bulged..' She bashed her head on the tree nearest to her.

"Is she ok?" Tenten asked looking at Naruko smacking her head on a tree.

"Eh, don't know Ten-chan. Might be having a lesbian fantasy about you" Naruto said with a teasing smirk. Even as Tenten slapped him he laughed. It wasn't like an insult considering her sexuality, she really was a lesbian and only claimed to crush on Neji Hyuuga for a temporary cover til she was of high enough rank to publicly be able to be with her chunin girlfriend without the red tape interfering legally, and sometimes wandering eye of other women.

"You are SO lucky I'm doing this to repay you for that favor or we'd be playing DDR right now" Tenten said with a scathing glare.

"Dance Dance Revolution? Whats that got to do with kenjutsu training?" Naruko asked finally beating the perverted thoughts away.

Naruto and Tenten shared a grin, not quite malicious or evil but enough to be un-nerving. "Nothing though dance is good for all forms of combat to vary footwork to keep opponents guessing" Tenten said dropping a kunai into her hand.

"No, the DDR we're talking about" Naruto dropped a kunai into his own hands "stands for Duck, Dodge and-"

"ROLL!" the pair said at the same time lauching their kunai at Naruko.

Naruko yelped and barely dodged out of the way completely dropping her sword.

"Welcome to bootcamp Hell!" Naruto and Tenten cackled maniacally. "Population: you. First order of business, run." A moment later a veritable hail storm of steel was being launched at Naruko as kunai and shuriken were thown making the poor girl run and dodge for her life.

-at T and I-

Anko felt a shiver of happiness run her spine as she purred in delight scaring the people around her. "Seems someone is playing my favorite game" she said to herself in a sing song tone. Never before had the T and I cafeteria emptied so fast as she Anko sighed like a schoolgirl with a crush before moving to do her interrogation.


	17. You did what!

Naruko cautiously peered out from her hiding place behind the rock looking around for Naruto and his weapon crazy friend. For the last two weeks the pair terrorized her all for 'The sake of reflex training, the very basic foundation of kenjutsu'. She called bullshit on that though since she saw a sadistic gleam in their eyes as nearly every training session it was the the same thing- dodge the projectiles and don't die. Oh she pitched a bitch about it after but it had been Tenten that explained to her that if she could avoid getting injured by a wall of kunai amd shuriken the next step was easier.

"DODGE!"

Naruko swapped herself with a log and said a silent prayer for forgiveness as the poor log was shredded to pulp by a shower of shuriken. Her eyes raced trying to find the source of where the projectiles and voice was but found nothing. Feeling a tickling sensation on her neck she turned and on raw instinct drew her sword. Mere seconds later the grinding of metal screeched through the air as Tenten was upon her with a tantou running the length of her scimitar.

"Good girl, now we move onto stage two" Tenten said with a much too chipper tone. She noted the wariness on Narukos face and snickered to herself. While initially reluctant to help train Naruko, she was no measure happy with the Uzumaki-Namikaze family for their doings to her friend, she was glad she had decided to since she could terrorize the girl in the form of training. "Now, that your paranoia and reflexes to dodge are at an acceptable level" she ignored the incredulous comment and look "we will begin training with your sword itself. Most ninja can't wield a sword worth a damn unless you specialize from a young age. Kenjutsu is not just hack and slash, it is an art form all its own."

"Ten-chan, you can give her the lecture later. We don't have the time right now. Show us what Kushina-san may have showed you. Basic slashes, guard blocks, how to disarm opponents etc" Naruto instructed Naruko as he created a durable Doton bunshin armed with a boken. "Begin."

Naruko attacked with her sword flowing like a serpent. Her attacks were sloppy to her own eyes but they were enough to convey she was being taught her mothers style of kenjutsu. As she and the clone sparred she idly noted in the back of her mind the critical eye the other two were watching her. One would whisper something to the other who would nod or shake their head and whisper something back. She lost her focus for one moment and that was all it took for the clone to disarm her ending the spar with 'point' of the boken at her point.

"Thats the wrong style for you" Tenten said bluntly after Naruto tossed her the boken back and dispelled the clone. "Kushina-samas kenjutsu works with a primary water element alignment. The way you move in conjunction with your sword and your chakra belies a primary wind or lightning."

Naruko couldn't help sulking hearing this. First her grandfathers sword wasn't a fit for her and had to be reforged with a jutsu from her brothers summons. Now her mothers clan kenjutsu style wasn't a fit for her too! What was next, there was a secret bethrothal contract between her and her brother to revive their clans with a sense of 'purity' bullshit?! The thought made her shiver as she surpressed the part of her turned on by the idea.

"However it is a good baseline for a style Ten-chan herself uses that falls under the Elemental Empires school of kenjutsu. Each form, one for every primarh element, retains a sense of fluidity and reactive properties. Until we know what your primary elemental affinity is I would suggest to continue to train the basic fluid serpent like katas of Uzu-Ryuken" Naruto said as he twirled a kunai around his finger.

"How can you guess what my primary chakra nature is? Thats chunin and up level stuff we shouldn't know about yet" Naruko said sheathing her sword in its sheath. Despite being slave driving paranoia inducing assholes in training her brother and his friend were a goldmine of infortmation.

"ANBU sparring partners" Tenten replied casually and grinned at the shocked expression on Narukos face.

"Hitomi kaa-san tested my chakra young, roughly around 7 or 8. I have all five primary elements due to containing her soul. I would hazard if I have to pin your primary element down, lightning thanks to the bastard with a strong fire secondary due to your containing the chakra. Probably in the mix somewhere is a very slight alignment to water just because of the clan but its not going to be very strong in all bets. A strong water affinity would hamper learn katon jutsu and augment lightning giving you a net gain of nothing but a headache and probably having to completely give up learning fire or lightning jutsu" Naruto said carelessly.

Tenten looked at friend with a twitchy eyebrow. "You bastard! You said you have two affinities not all the primaries" she growled out with a glare.

"No offense Ten-chan but does the word ninja mean anything to you? I know you won't ever tell me all your skills and it should be expected I won't tell you all of mine. Besides" Naruto made a dismissive hand motion "I didn't lie really. I'm only training two of them right now. The other three are untouched so I don't consider them affinities yet."

"You possess equal measures of alignment in all so regardless of training in them or not they count as affinities!" Tenten said waving her arms to make a point.

"I'M STILL HERE YA KNOW!" Naruko said barking at the pair in irritation. Seriously what were they, two? Arguing like that was petty and childish.

"Oh right, forgot about you for a minute" Naruto said casually looking over to Naruko. "Well first order of proper sword handling- routine. Every day before got to team practice I expect you to do four hundred slashes, fifty for each cardinal direction and fifty for each diagnol on the compass. Oh, one more thing." Naruto grinned and motioned at Tenten who grinned just as un-nervingly. She disappeared from sight for a moment. "Gravity seal that self modifies to start your muscle and speed training."

Naruko looked confused for a moment before feeling a seal tag slapped on her forearm. A quick activation of chakra from Tenten and she found herself face planted into a mini crater. "Gah!" she exclaimed trying to push herself up to her hand hands and knees.

"Quit ya bitchin. My gravity seal is ten times the normal gravity and Naruto-kun has his at fifteen. You shouldn't even be struggling since the seal is usually nice when first activated to one and half" Tenten said with a snicker watching Naruko flail.

"It self adjust by chakra reserves Ten-chan" Naruto said bopping Tenten on the head. Crossing to Naruko he knelt down looking at the seal. "Ah, it went straigh to five times. Well that won't do." He tapped the seal and manually adjusted it to one and half times instead of five. "Try getting up now."

Naruko found it easier to get up but had a little sweat on her forehead. "You could've warned me" she said with a glare.

"Could've. Probably should've. Didn't because it wouldn't have gotten me this" Naruto said holding a picture of Naruko face in a mini crater. "Now lets go, the bastard is assigning Satsukis replacement today." He began off with a light jog that Naruko struggled to keep up with adjusting to the seal mumbling curses the whole way about sadistic slave driving training maniac older brothers under her breath. "What was that? Did I hear someone say they didn't want any training?" he asked with a tone that was just too nice and sweet.

"N-No onii-san! I was just saying how thororugh you were in your methods!" Naruko said with only the slightest stutter. 'Baka! Don't piss him off! You're on 1nano-meter thin ice with him right now remember?!' she berated herself

"I thought that was what I heard. I'm glad you like it so. It only gets MUCH MUCH more thorough from here." Naruto sounded satisfied as he upped his pace a slight bit. He grinned to himself as Naruko struggled more and had to apply chakra to her muscles to keep up. 'Good, she isn't as stupid as she looks sometimes' he thought to himself.

'Thats not exactly a fair statement now sochi' Hitomi said bopping his avatar rather hard with a hammer. 'Your sister is rather intelligent if you word it the right way or lead by example. Shes like you, a kinesthetic learner. Could do without her being a closet pervert though.'

'Closet pervert?' Naruto asked raising an eyebrow as he took to the rooftops once they hit town. He didn't look back to see if Naruko followed figuring if she couldn't make it to the rooftops she would follow below dodging between civilians. Sending chakra through ones muscles to augment them was one thing but to do so and use chakra to propel yourself was a chakra control exercise in and of itself he doubted she would be ready for anytime soon.

'Oh yes sochi, she is quite the closeted kinky little vixen. The things she has imagined would make Jiraiya die of a nosebleed' Hitomi said sounding amused. Some of the things she saw in Narukos mind passed through the foxes own. 'I'd show you but you might not like it. Well not publicly anyway.' She wasn't quite sure how Naruto would take knowing his sister imagined him and her in various sexual situation, most of them with him dominating her little an obedient devoted little sex slave that bent to his whims. On a level it was kinky and all that, forbidden fuit bullshit that humans had a moral quandry over. On the other she highly doubted her kit would ever see his sister in that light.

'It can't be that bad kaa-san. She can't be that much worse than Jiraiya is' Naruto thought scowling. Genius as Jiraiya was Naruto hated the man was a pervert of the highest order.

'Oh look! The tower is in front of you!' Hitomi said distracting Naruto.

'We'll talk about this later' Naruto thought pumping chakra to his legs and jumped landing on the ledge outside the mission office. "Genin Naruto Uzumaki reporting for duty Hokage-sama" he said flatly with an impassive look.

"Where is your sister?" Minato asked with an equally impassive tone and look.

"Probably on the stairs on her way up. She is adjusting to using chakra to augment her muscles and getting used to the gravity seal placed on her for the kenjutsu training I and genin Tenten Higurashi are putting her through" Naruto said not missing a beat.

"I se- you did what now!?!"


	18. The dog says woof, snake goes hiss

Naruko huffed as she finally reached her fathers office and collapsed face first. 'This seal SUCKS!' she thought bashing her head on the carpet.

"Oh quit ya mental whining and bitching. Its only one and half times gravity, thats a cake walk compared to mine. So whose our replacemenf for the dead bisected wonder?" Naruto asked looking back to Minato. He was certain they would still be entered into the exam, Naruko was alive still, who would be their third man replacement? After all you need a full team to enter or so he heard. There were a few exceptions where solo ronin entered with support letters from feudal lords and other country leaders but the solo participants almost never survive.

"Before I get to that, how high is your gravity seal that your sisters is a 'cake walk' in comparison to yours?" Minato asked raising an eyebrow. He despised being in the dark but he deserved it after all the shit he did. After his sensei put him in his place he took a good long hard look at everything he did to his son, with the help of his good friend Mr. Sake, and was disgusted with himself.

"Fifteen times gravity." Naruto saw Minato fall out of the chair and raised an eyebrow. "What did you expect asshat? I've been training since I was six in every skill of the shinobi arts. My resistance seals are nearly the same. Actually I'm due to up them both since its easy to walk run and fight normally again" he said to himself making a note to himself.

Minato looked at Naruto like he was nuts. Yes gravity seals were excellent for training muscle growth and speed but constantly wearing them and not letting your body adjust to its new speed and strength without them was dangerous even for a jinchuriki. "You do know when to release them and acclimate to your new speed strength etc without them right?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm not an idiot or suicidal to run into a fight unacclimated to new speed or strength because I upped the seals level. What do you take me, a Haruno playing ninja?" Naruto asked with a scowl and glare. "Just tell us who our new team mate so we can adjust and get back to missions ASAP."

"I'm hurt Naru-kun. You didn't see me on the way in."

Naruto turned slightly and rubbed his temples at who he saw perched on the arm of the couch like a wolf on a cliff. Hana Inzuka was by no means a bad person, quite the opposite, but she was a bit..obsessive like her clan. For the last four months after some event or some reason he could not fathom she had been trying to get in his pants. Granted she was leagues and bounds better than Satsuki had been, she actually possessed skills as a kunoichi to do the title proud and was a pretty fun person to hang with but still she had an obsession on him. "Tell me its not Hana. For one shes a chunin already. Two, even if you finally listened to an idea I suggested to your wife Hana has clan duties that interfere with her being constant team present to train to be able to rely on each other in combat. Not mention combat styles we use are incompatible- brawler with her clans animal partnership taijutsu" he pointed to Hana who pouted at him "I don't fuckin know yet" he pointed to Naruko who pouted and crossed her arms under her chest "and I prefer to be up in peoples face with my sword or blowing them up with my..inventions." He grinned slightly as Naruko took a step, a big step, away from his person.

"I understand that and took it into consideration. Hana would be with you two on missions outside the village . Inside the village she will attend to clan matters first and foremost as the standing heir until her brother Kiba comes of age and will train with you when she has the time to do so" Minato said.

"Why couldn't it have been Ten-chan?" Naruto muttered to himself in the corner drawing circles on the carpet.

Minato blinked as Naruko was suddenly hiding behind his chair in the blink of an eye. "Uh... Am I missing something?" he asked slowly looking between his son and daughter. Narukos shiver snd shudder told him he was but precisely what he didnt know.

"DDR" Naruko said with the faintest weary glance around the chair. Naruto was gone from the corner and on instinct bent her head back dodging a kunai that buried itself in the window ledge.

"Did some say Duck, Dodge and Roll?!" Minato groaned recognizing the chipper voice righr away. Mitarashi Anko was a stand alone character since the woman was shameless in every single context of the word. With purple hair tied back vaguely pineapple-esque, pale skin and coffee colored eyes drew your eyes in first if they didnt land on her 'outfit' first. Usually seen in an open trench coat, full body mesh suit, tan mini skirt and a cropped top to barely hide her chest to meet the edge of the words 'publicly appropriate' it was safe to say Anko was dsmn proud of her body and not against showing it off to mess with people.

"Yes Anko, appearently my son and his friend have been playing your game with his sister. The question is why" Minato said with a directed look at Naruto who was grinning from a spot on Ankos shoulder in a chibi form? How the hell did his son manage it and why the hell was Anko actively cradling the chibi-fied Naruto into her chest without killing him?! Was the world going mad?

"Shall we say it together Anko-san?" chibi Naruto asked from his position. Seeing the grin on Ankos face Naruto stood on her arm and cleared his throat. Counting on three the pair spoke drawing creeped out looks on the rooms other occupants.

"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball. If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge most medium size offensive jutsu. If you can dodge kunai, shuriken and senbon you can dodge just about anything. Except taxes. And death. And perverts, death to the perverts. Balls first with a red hot nut cracker and some rock salt" the pair said simultaneously and nodding sagely at the end in the tandem.

"Can I keep him Hokage-sama? I promise to feed him, cloth him and give you corrupt grandchildren by the time hes fifteen!" Anko said whinig like a child pleading for a puppy. She noticed Hana fall over choking on her own spit at the scene and Naruko just had a dumbstruck but mad look on her face.

Minato groaned and bashed his head on his desk. 'This is what I get for everything I did isn't it?! This is karma for employing questionably sane ninj-'

"Naruto-kun come back! WE NEED TO START THOSE SEXY BABIES TO GIVE YOU OLD MAN GREY HAIRS BEFORE HES FORTY!" Anko yelled running after a now normal size Naruto running away from her.

"I-Is this normal for you?" Hana asked finally getting herself back under control. This was almost as nuts as a day in clans compound and this was only an introduction! What were missions going to be like? Or training for that matter?

"You know how the say goes 'Abandon all hope ye who enter here'?" Naruko asked shaking her head. Seeing Hana nod her head she suppressed a groan. "Thats basically how this team is. Our first C-rank got upgraded to an A-rank where onii-chan scared off Zabuza Momochi somehow and then with the help of his summons not only massacred an army with two high rank fire jutsus unqiue to his summon, Im guessing they're unique anyway since the flames were golden in color, used an A-rank earth jutsu to finish the mission single handedly in matter of two minutes after the use of the fire jutsu that melted half the bridge where the mercenary army and their midget employer stood. Normal Hana is a setting on the washing machine. Normal is a difficulty setting in a video game. There is no such things as NORMAL on this team. Except his constant flow of books he reads while walking, thats the only constant. Everything else is expect the unexpected worst nightmare to be around every corner."


	19. Last genin in the cell: Enter Nora

Naruto lazily watched Tenten torturing Naruko as the girl tried to fend off the older girls attacks. Naruko was improving, he would concede that, but not nearly enough for him to actually merit saying it out loud. Her paranoid instincts from two weeks of DDR helped her trust her gut to know when to completely avoid a strike while also helping her trust to know when parrying a strike was smart. Her footwork was basic and unrefined but for a genin was good for the moment. Even her muscle definition and muscle memory for proper grip was good from following his orders in regards to completing slashes before team training. Oh it drove Kushina up a wall sometimes but quite frankly Naruto couldn't find a care to offer up. "Time you two" he called.

Naruko blocked the final stike was in motion and managed a knick drawing a few drops of bloods. Her eyes automatically turned to Naruto and shuddered a little under his gaze. She was a sweaty mess and the unreadable expression on his face didn't reveal a thing about his thoughts. Of course she suspected that her improvement showed and he had to of thought she had improved but seemingly not enough to his standards.

Tenten scowled at the blonde girl and huffed sealing her wazikashi away. "Cheater" she said activating a small healing jutsu to close the cut.

"There is no such things as fair Ten-chan. We're ninja, the only 'fair' thing in our lives is we all die at some point" Naruto drawled pushing himself to his feet from his resting position and popped his back sighing a soft pleasurable sound as the vettebrae popped back into place. "Thats much better. Now you two" his eyes popped between the two kunoichi "are slacking in your training." He silenced the pair with a hard punch to the tree he had been resting against and visibly making an indent shaped like his fist. "Naruko your reaction speed is half a second slower than it was when we finished tormenting you with DDR and began to actually train you to use your swords form to your advantage."

Naruko pouted at the perceived insult. She knew she was nowhere near her brothers reaction time or even Tenten but she was actively running the drills they taught her religiously so how could she have gotten slower?! "Thats not possible! Between religiously running the drills you two showed me, little miss weapon fetish trying to make me an active pin cushion when she thinks I'm not looking and sparring with her every chance our schedules permit theres no conceivable way my reaction time has slowed down!" she protested while ignoring the indignant 'I do not have a weapon fetish!' from Tenten.

"And you know I NEVER slack my training Naruto-kun! Look at who my team mates and sensei are for Kamis sake!" Tenten huffed with a stare that could bore holes through granite.

"You two narrowly avoided injuring the other permanently that would cripple them from their career as kunoichi." Naruto saw the pair shut up in an instant and demand a silent explanation. Casting a simple area genjutsu to play back the fight from his point of view he paused it at the relevant moment. "You two crossed swords seconds before they came in contact with each other. Had either of your swords come into contact with each others bodies the blade would have cut into muscles by your shoulders that let you have conscious control of your arm. Given Tentens swords are forged from chakra metal and your sword Naruko is reforged to be chakra enhanced so its on par with natural chakra metal swords whoever cut the other would have had their blades not only endangering the others life by physically cutting muscle and tendons, your blades would have naturally drawn from the chakra within body since theres a cluster of tenketsu points nestled near your shoulder. With the forceful withdrawal of chakra your body would fight what was sucking the chakra out and cut the circulation to your arm to save the rest of your body. A spite your nose to save your face situation" he said with a shrug.

Both girls gawked before hanging their heads. Of course Naruto, or as Natsumi referred to him during training as Slave Driver 1, would notice a fatal flaw in their techniques they themselves would be ignorant to.

"Which is why I'm going to allow Naruko to teach you Tenten the Kage Bunshin technique. You know what the technique is useful for and many other applications plus the reserves for at most two clones as you currently stand" Naruto continued ignoring the shocked heads snapping up. "However, you are only allowed to use it to train when you are not in the village. I don't need you killing yourself from chakra exhaustion and us being to blame for it."

Narukos whine was pre-emptively cut off as Hana entered the clearing with another girl in tow behind her. She was pretty plain looking at first glance, shoulder length black hair tied back in a hair tie with tan skin, brown eyes and of average height, until the pair got closer. What made the girl different was the markings on her face, red upside down triangles decorating her cheeks. "Whose that with Wolfy?" she asked using the nickname she had given the Inzuka heiress after a few meetings with the peculiarly feral young woman.

"Eh, who know? Shes another Inzuka though if the markings on her face are an indication" Naruto said with a yawn. He didn't particularly care who the girl was as long as she wasn't going to try and get him like Anko or Hana had been trying. He was flattered but Anko was a little too much all the time and Hana was a wolf in heat around him.

"Wolfy huh princess? I can show you just how wolfish I really am if you like" Hana said with a smirk as she and the other girl got close enough to be heard. When the younger Inzuka girl groaned she turned and huffed with a light glare. "Don't side with her, side with your older sister on this!"

Naruto, Naruko and Tenten shared a look at the two women bickered. This young woman was Hanas younger sister? That would have to mean she was Kibas twin or born just after him. "Well you have to admit it yourself you are more feral than even your mom sometimes ands that saying something. I mean come on, you stalk my apartment building for crying out loud" he said raising an eyebrow as the pair shut up. Hanas face slightly flushed and the younger Inzuka female looked up incredulously at Hana.

"I do not stalk your-"

"The apartment complex manager chases you away a minimum of six times a month. You're a stalker, an incredibly attractive and talented stalker but a stalker none the less" Naruto said cutting Hana off before she could try to reason off his accusation. He didn't miss the jealous look on Narukos face at his calling Hana attractive nor did he miss Hana blush darker for a moment. "So is this a social call or... I recognize you now." He smirked and pointed at the girl whose eyes widened slightly with a horrified look. "You're the one they call Wet Nose Nora" he said.

Hana looked between her sisters shamefully embarrassed red face and Naruto curiously. "Wet Nose Nora?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. She knew her sister had a teasing nickname but hadn't been made aware of it. "Why do I feel like theres a story attached to this?"

Nora panicked and in the blink of an eye was beside Naruto with her hands clasped around his mouth. Just remembering why he called her that in the first place was embarrassing enough. Then somehow her cousins had found out and it was then that it spread like wildfire through her clan. Her only saving grace was that it was contained to the clan and the clan only. "There isn't! Theres no story behind it! Right Naruto?" she with a sickly sweet tone that promised pain if he said otherwise though she gulped feeling the point of two swords at her throat.

"Let go of my big brother before I break out a dog whistle." Narukos expression was flat as the point knicked slightly and a single bead of blood fell down Noras skin. The threat of a dog whistle was harsh but no one touched her big brother and threatened him even if it was a veiled or implied threat.

"Nora! Behave or its going to be your job to clean the keennels for the next six months" Hana said with a sharp reprimanding tone. So there was a story behind the nickname it seemed. She set the thought in the background for investigation later. "We're here because since the Hokage is entering all the genin teams with clan heirs into the chunin exams this year"

"Told you so" Naruto said with a snort once Nora had been removed from him.

Hana growled at the interruption but continued. "You need a team full of all genin. My younger sister Nora here graduated the academy early and since two need a third to compete, here she is. Just to give you an overview of her skills, she is considered a prodigy with the clan taijutsu with her two nin-ken. Her ninjutsu and genjutsu are fairly well rounded with a primary earth element. Her tracking skills are up among some of the best of our clans though she needs to put it to real scrutiny out in the world" she said as she tapped her chin in thought.

"My skills are well rounded and neither more focused one or neglected in another. Considering my primary element I fit best as a rear guard type" Nora said with a cough into her fist trying not to puff her chest out too much as Hana sung the praises of her abilities.

Naruto raised an eyebrow further til it almost reached his hairline. He leaned forward drawing a bated breath from all four women. "I'm not impressed. But I guess we need her for the chunin exams so she'll do" he said with a drawl. The four womens jaws dropped as he walked away toward the village. "Team training begins 0600 sharp Wet Nose. Be late by a moment and I will personally introduced you to my favorite game in the world."

Naruko and Hana shivered violently as Tenten smiled a little sadistic smile. Nora on the other hand looked completely confused. "You two look scared, why? And why is the panda smiling like shes a cat that caught the canary?" the girl asked not noticing Hana or Naruko step back hearing her call Tenten a panda.

"Run. Run now. Run fast. Run far" Hana warned before a flurry of metal and furry erupted. Nora wisely listened and ran for her life as Tenten chased her down with the fury of a demon while ranting demonically about being called a panda.

"Twenty ryo says she doesn't make it fifteen minutes before Tenten catches her" Naruko said.

"Give her a little credit. I'll match your twenty and bet she makes it twenty minutes."


	20. Exam waivers

"What did you do?"

Naruto looked up lazily meeting Kushinas expectant stare as she tapped her foot impatiently. A cursory glance told him that Nora was a little worse for wear as she looked half dead. "Me, nothing. Wet Nose Nora over there called Tenten a panda" he said non-chalantly. "There is one and only one person outside of me that Tenten lets call her panda, Nora is not that other person. Hence Tenten introduced her to the Wrathful version of DDR. I call it Hell Storm since its much more vicious."

Kushina sharply turned her gaze to Nora. "Is this true?" she asked with a no nonsense tone. Nora was highly recommended because of her skills and early graduation but if she was as immature as Kiba there was the potential for problems in the future. "Did you antagonize a fellow kunoichi by calling her a panda?"

"How was I supposed to know shes sensitive about that?!" Nora growled flailing her arms about. "Just because she was a fetis-"

"One, finish that word and you'll find yourself running for your life again since Tenten is right behind you. Two, shes not 'sensitive' about it for the reason you probably assume. You have to earn the right and that is hard to do since she doesn't trust easily. No ninja worth their salt should" Naruto said making a pointing gesture behind Nora. "And three, the only reason I or the other person allowed to call her panda are people she considers dear to her heart for seperate reasons; Tenten and I have been friends for going on six or seven years while the other person is the person she loves that she met through me. You do not possess the right to call her panda."

Nora gulped and turned slowly to find herself face to face with Tenten who was smiling far too sweetly. "I I pl-plead the fi-fifth" she said with a stuttering yelp before turning tail and running with her metaphorical tail between her legs. Not many things scared an Inzuka but the older kunoichi was definitely scared Nora.

"Now now Naruto-kun, why did you have to warn her? I could've used a new wolf fur rug" Tenten said still holding onto the far too sweet smile. No one, not even Naruto or her girlfriend, got away with saying she had a weapon fetish. Just because she appreciated the massively diverse arrays of tools to kill people and trained to be skilled with every single one she could get her hands on DID NOT mean she had a fetish. Ok, maybe she did have a fetish or two but that was reserved solely for her girlfriend when they were getting kinky but only then! 'Kami above, I'm starting to feel like Naruto right now' she thought pouting. Mental monologues about the smallest notions of annoyance was Narutos vice not hers.

"Unfortunately we need her alive for entrance into the chunin exams. Like I suspected from the first team meeting and said it out loud- the Hokage is entering all the rookie teams with clan heirs as ringer teams. He is foolish in this endeavor but I keep my personal feelings aside from my professional opinions of our commanders actions and choices" Naruto said non-chalantly. He saw Tenten raise an eyebrow while Kushina and Narukos eyebrows twitch slightly. "Think logically here for a moment and Tenten don't spoil it since I know you figured it out already. The teams were laid out in what structure? The teams were designed with what purposes? The model hasn't changed in how many years?"

Realization dawned on Kushinas face as she slapped a hand to her forehead. The teams hadn't changed in over fifty years and were the same composition of clan heirs, Ino-Shika-Cho Hyuuga-Aburame-Inzuka etc. "If the competing teams are counting on stagnation then they'll purposefully send teams sent to counter the villages renowned specialty teams" she said with a groan.

"Right in one. They're counting on Konoha being so vain to not switch up teams with the next generation of clan heirs. They will have no doubt studied every established team to work out their strengths and weaknesses to specifically work on teams to eliminate them with the most efficency and least amount of effort. Personally" Naruto paused for effect here and made an airy motion with his hand for dramatic effect "I blame your husbands advisors kept over from Lord Hiruzens tenure as Hokage and that snivelling warmongerer Danzo. Those three undermined Lord Sandaime by stealing funds meant to go to the ninja academy for a complete overhaul of the syllabus. It went into their pockets. Lord Sandaime ordered Danzo to disband his rogue faction of ANBU codenamed ROOT. Officially it was disbanded and declassified as a wartime defense. Unofficially its still active and I know that for a fact." He saw the disbelief in Kushinas eyes and rolled his own with disgruntled aggrivation beginning to show. "Where did you think I went after I woke up in Nami? We were tailed by two squadrons of ROOT that were trying to kill ME. It doesn't matter that I share blood with that blonde bastard. Danzo doesn't want THAT out of his control since hes a bitter old warmonger that never got over being passed on for Sandaime."

Kushina stiffened at the implication. "You don't know that for certain" she challenged. If Naruto was right there were far greater issues underfoot then they had imagined.

"I don't do I? I have corpses of dead ROOT ninja in preservation scrolls. I have written mission orders stamped with Danzos stamp as ROOT commander bearing the Shimura clan seal telling his slave drones to KILL ME AND EXTRACT IT. I have personally deconstructed the juinjutsu Danzo uses to ensure the silence of his slaves and tortured confessions and details backed by Inoichi Yamanaka going through their minds to confirm the details for one hundred percent validity" Naruto said as his lips curled into a sneer. Oh she was trying his patience now and her next words may make or break the single chance he had said he would give her.

The laundered list of things could be ignored since corpses proved nothing but the mentions of written orders bearing Danzos seal as ROOT commander with his clan seal, the confessions backed by Inoichi- one of the top renowned torture and inerrogation experts in the nations- and deconstructing the juinjutsu branded on all ROOT agents gave Kushina pause as the sneer told her to shut up. Her challenging Naruto meant she did not believe him and that could cost her chance and she quickly needed to remedy the situation before he did just that. "I have to keep a skepticism you know as well as I do. Unless I or others in a position to verify see proof of anything its all hearsay and backless accusation otherwise. Making such a claim of man like Danzo without the proper verifiable would be very much political suicide and a very quick start to the end of your career thats only begun" she said trying to not sound as panicked as she felt.

Naruto was sorely tempted to void Kushinas chance there and then but a look from Naruko, not to mention Hitomis mental tail slap to the back of his avatars head, made him sigh internally. "Whatever" he said scowling. "Lets just do whatever we gotta do today." He noted Tentens veiled concern and shot her a look telling her to scat, that he'd talk to her later.

"We're not doing missions today. Given the village is hosting the chunin exams I was going to give you three these." Kushina produced three entry waivers and handed them to Naruto, Naruko and Nora. "The first exam starts in a week. Be at the academy at 9am if you wish to participate. My advice, make it a team decision to take part or not" she said before disappearing in a breeze.

"Showoff" Nora said pouting. "So are we going to take her advice and make this a team decision or what? I mean, people die in the exams from what I heard in the past. Mum told me about her own exam back in the day in Kumo and she told about how her team was the only one to make it mostly ok out of the survival portion. If I remember correctly she said somewhere around like ten teams were completely decimated and never seen after."

"Make whatever decision you two want. I'm going and thats my call. Come on panda bear, we got a prior engagement to attend to remember" Naruto said shoving his waiver in his pocket. He noticed Tenten pout in his direction but follow him as he left heading toward the village proper.

"Oi, slow down will ya foxy? Not all of us have the long legs you do" Tenten said through a whining pant as caught up to Naruto. "What crawled your craw and died? I know for a fact you made up whatever we're about to do on the spot and as much as I appreciate the out, this isn't your usual MO for getting out of things with your team. Spill it man."

Naruto rolled his eyes and pointed a finger to his head. "The voice in my head told me to not do something I may or not regret down the line" he said with a scoff. "Though right now its more of a feeling like I wouldn't regret it." He saw the understanding flash in Tentens eyes before she nodded. "Besides that, when the temptation is to permanently remove the source of my irritation its best to listen" he said shaking his head at the mental slap he received.

"I see. Well tell the voice in your head I said thanks. I rather my best friend alive and breathing here in the village where I have access to him rather than him dead or on the run as a wanted crimnal" Tenten said. She knew what he meant, she knew about Hitomi since Naruto trusted her implicitly with all his secrets, and smiled rather fondly. She'd met the fox spirit once and found the woman to be entrancing. Quiet, warm, kind, protective of her Naruto and overall a gentle soul unless riled she was what Tenten had seen so much of her own mother before her passing in the fox. It helped endear her to the woman and the thought of Naruto getting a slap with a fluffy tail for not introducing his friendly propperly made her smile grow more.

"Stop smiling like that. Its creepy" Naruto said with a grimace. His ears perked slightly hearing a scuffle and cursing. Jumping to the rooftop to investigate with Tenten on his heels he scowled at the scene before him. The Sandaimes grandson was making a scene with some Suna ninja and was subsequently yanked to his feet. "You think your desert lily would be upset if I beat up her brother who plays with dolls?" he asked glancing to his friend who had this gigantic smile plastered on her face.

"LET ME GO! MY GRANDPA WAS THE SANDAIME SO I ORDER YOU TO PUT ME DOWN!"

"Lets get the brat before he makes a international incident" Tenten said face palming.


	21. Intruders in the village

Naruto looked on in amusement as he saw the Sandaimes grandson picking a fight with a Suna ninja and losing horribly. Despite suggesting they prevent an international incident he wanted to watch the little brat suffer a little since he was a persistent little shit that didn't know what the word no meant. "Toss a note or something at your girlfriend. Tell her she'll get no nooky for the duration of the exams if she lets Kankuro actually harm the pest with his dolls" he said noticing the war paint decorated genin reaching for the bundle on his back

Tenten rolled her eyes and scribbled a note quickly securing it to a kunai handle. Launching it she watched it arc and settle perfectly between the visible kunoichis feet. Her expression soured watching the other read the note and crunch it up in her hand before beating the puppet user to ground forcing him to release the annoying kid who ran off screaming as Sakura, the failing banshee, chased him. "You're no fun foxy. Besides who said she wouldn't get any any nooky? You're not around me twenty-four seven dad" she said with a sarcastic drawl.

"Tracking seal you let me put on you willingly. I will intensify our training regiment if I must. Plus if you start fucking a foreign ninja the automatic assumption is you being seduced for information or you're going rogue. Wait for a mission outside the village like always and I'll keep sending messages as usual via my summons" Naruto said jabbing his bony pinky into Tentens arm drawing a whine out of her. "Oh grow up, it doesn't hurt ya baby."

In a tree nearby to where Kankuro had been making his scene with Konohamaru two hidden female figures curiously reversed the trail of the kunai back to the spot where two leaf ninja were crouched arguing about something. The first female figure had short red hair with bangs just long enough to reach her eyes, a healthy tan, the kanji for love tattooed on her forehead and sea foam green eyes. Dressed in a loose but complimenting mesh shirt covered by a short sleeve burgundy shirt and hip hugging combat pants with a sash supporting a corked gourd and combat boots instead of traditional sandals she cut an impressive figure of a serious kunoichi.

The second figure, located higher up at the top of the tree and actively suppressing her chakra to the levels of animal wildlife, was more peculiar looking. She was slightly shorter than the redheaded girl, her skin was pale as moonlight, had two horn like bone protrusions from her forehead as well as a plain folded bandana covering the skin of her forehead, medium length white hair and green eyes though it seemed around the edges they were purple. Dressed in a form fitting body suit that fit like a second skin but didnt hamper her flexibility or range of motion she looked the part of a traditional femme fatale as she twirled a shuriken around her fingers. Like the redhead her eyes were focused on the pair who were now rolling around on the roof with the kunoichi looking like she was trying to strangle the male who was laughing at her about something and was failing spectacularly in her endeavor. 'I wonder mother.. Is that the boy of prophecy you foresaw me helping so long ago... He does have that strange aura you described to me as a child' she thought to heself as he free hand absently flicked the pendant around her neck, a metallic matte black whirlpool like design encased in a flaming snowflake. 'But where is The Ice Angel I foresaw with him I wonder.. Oh well.' Making the single handsign required she disappeared into the tree bark.

"I swear to Kami Naruto I'm going to kill you! Stay still!" Tenten growled as the blonde just grinned and got free before beginning to run away. He might be her best friend. He may have mentioned a contact to her in Suna he'd heard through the grapevine of Jiraiya once upon a time resulting in her meeting the girl she loved now. Hell, he introduced her to her favorite game to torture her team mate Lee and sensei Gai to get out of their training! But there was only so much teasing that one girl can take at once.

"No can do panda. People to see, things to do, lives to ruin. You know, the usual song and dance. Ja!" Naruto disappeared in a poof leaving a very frustrated Tenten as she hit him.

'Bastard! When did he switch out for a shadow clone?!' Tenten seethed as she her hands twitched in irritation. "I'll get him later..." she muttered to herself hopping off toward the commercial sector.

-Dark Night Bar, Downtown Konoha 7pm; the night before the chunin exams first stage-

"So, we got a deal or not? I don't got all night. The exams begin tomorrow ya know." Jiraiya was not particularly happy with the two hodded figures before him. They were supposed to have been here last week when exam waivers were given to the leaf participants but they weren't. No, all because little princess fell in love with a particularly cute rabbit on the way over and chased it for three days the pair was delayed and she wasn't even sorry as she cooed at the fluffy white furball in her arms happily nipping her fingers affectionately!

"Whatever old man. This makes us square afterwards clear" the taller figure, a male by how rough the voice was, said with a scoff. "Plus it'll give her an excuse to be social for once."

"Hey! I am SO social!" the shorter feminine figure said with a whining growl.

"An animal with enough brain power to equate you with affection and food without it having to hunt does not make you social" Jiraiya said with a scowl. He dropped a sack on the table before laying two blank porcelain masks on the table with a set of paint brushes and tube of navy blue paint. "Decorate the masks in traditional ANBU fashion, you know how it is. Theres half your money up front, the other half once the exams are over and don't fuck this up along the way or I drop my protection for you two and leave you to the mercy of every hunter ninja out there."

"You mean you leave him to the mercy of every hunter ninja out there" the feminine hooded figure said rubbing the rabbits ears gently as she nuzzled its nose against her own.

"No Haku, I mean you both. Aiding and abetting a criminally recognized bingo book target will earn any accomplice an automatic death sentence. The only reason you aren't already dead young lady is because this emotionless bloodthirsty bastard either actually cares about you in some fashion or has not seen your value run out yet; for that matter you two aren't dead of your recognizance out in the open is due to the fact you two work for me." His patience was thinning as he stood up from his chair watching the pair collect the masks before the taller male hooded figure took the bag of cash. "Don't fuck this up, I don't forgive failure."

"I'll keep him focused on the task. That is the easy part" Haku said dropping her hood revealing a messy bun of long black hair, flawless ivory pale skin, perfectly full and kissable bow shaped lips and warm rich chocolate eyes. "We'll be expecting the other half the moment the exams end Toad Sanin." She stood and left cradling the rabbit to her chest humming as she lovingly pet its ears gently.

"I don't understand why you keep her around Zabuza" Jiraiya said shaking his head.

"I don't. She chooses to stick around. She worked her debt off to me. What she sees in me or why she stays is beyond me. I'm a right demon in all senses deserving of my moniker but why a gentle soul like her chooses to keep company like me is a mystery" Zabuza said shaking his head, the motion exposing his signature bandaged lower face and throat for only a moment.

"If the records and idle chatter are correct she sees a broken soul in you." Naruto had been sitting at the bar drinking idly as he planned ahead for every possibilty come the exam in the morning. "You murdered a whole graduating Kiri academy generation to change their policy of shinobi matters." He paused feeling the weight of the two mens gazes on him. "Your soul is bloodstained and shattered, hers is light and whole. Its my guess she hopes to fix the man who saved her life. After all, even demons have a soft spot for the young whether the child is theirs or not and the children feel similarly for whom they consider in any form a parent or protector."

"Naruto, are you drinking?" Jiraiya asked disapprovingly.

"Cut it out Jiraiya, you know I couldn't get drunk if I wanted to. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy the burn or the taste. Besides, not like it'll kill me" Naruto snorted swirling his glass. "Helps me think too. With the exams come sunrise I aim to have a plan for every possible scenario be it information gathering and extraction, full out simulation seige of an enemy strong hold or whatever have you. An unprepared ninja is a dead ninja. Isn't that right Master Jiraiya?" he asked rhetorically. He put a twenty ryo note on the counter after slamming back what was left of his drink in one go. "Well, if I survive these tests I'll see ya later. If I don't, well its been real frog face." Naruto grinned slightly at Jiraiyas expression and walked out as Zabuza roared with laughter.

'Disrespectful gaki! When you make it through you are SO SO SO getting it' Jiraiya thought fuming though he grinned internally. He had every faith Naruto would live through the exam. He had trained the kid personally, the kid had his summons training him for who knows how long and a mil long list of aces up his sleeves the Toad Sage was unaware of. 'You better make it gaki or I'll resurrect you to beat you within an inch of your second lfe.' Shaking his head he turned his gaze back to Zabuza and smacked him upside the head. "Go get ready for the morning and don't make me regret this."

The hooded missing ninja just smirked beneath his bandages and left silently with a flippant gesture. If the kid was participating then things were bound to be interesting to watch. Hell, he might pick up a trick or that may be useful for his future endeavors.


	22. First exam, start!

By the time sun was breaking the horizon Naruto was ready for the day and the first test. Unsure of what the first leg of the chunin exams would be he dressed midway between gear for a recon mission and an all-out siege, cargo pants with lots of pockets a steel mesh under armor shirt covered by a three quarter sleeve black shirt and combat boots, he felt ready. Shrugging on his new trench coat emblazoned with visage of a snarling demonic skull on the back, courtesy of a lost bet from a leather worker, he began to walk out of his apartment whistling a jaunty tune. Since it was so early in the morning and the only people up would either be the insomniacs or ninja he was content to have silence for the time being as he made his way to the academy building.

Settling on the old swingset near the school he let his forehead rest against the iron chains holding up the swing as he idly kicked himself off a little. How long he was lost to his thoughts was irrelevant as the pair of scents of his approaching team mates broke his thoughts. Nora looked exhausted while Naruko looked a little far too chipper for so early in the morning. 'This is incredibly suspicious' he thought narrowing one eyes gaze. "You're not a morning person" he said quite bluntly as the pair finally reached near him. Neither girl responded to him right away as Nora plopped down in a rather unglorious pile at the base of the tree beside him while Naruko continued to be absorbed in whatever thought had her attention at that moment.

"Good morning to you too" Naruko said before returning to her source of morning chipperness, coffee or what appeared to be coffee but was actually a rather calming black tea so her nerves didn't get the best of her. "And yes I'm no morning person but my tea helps. Just sweet enough to give a pep up but not enough I'll crash during whatever our first test is."

Nora scowled sleepily at her two team mates with tired eyes as her companion growled from within the pouch he rested in within her jacket. "Either give me some or shut up will ya? You didn't stop talking the whole way over and its grinding my nerves" she said trying to not snap at Naruko. She liked the blonde girl, far more than her brother who while not a sadist by any means was a lot crueler and throrough in training than even the most fanatical trainer in her clan, but she talked a lot when she was nervous and not even the tea she claimed was giving her a 'pep up' was not helping in the department. Looking down at her companion, a decidely more wolf-like pup than any normal Inzuka dog, she rubbed his ears as the pup barked something rather unpleasant at Naruko drawing a blank expression from the blonde. "You don't want to know, trust me. Hes spent too much time around his parents and my mother to be speaking that way so young" she said shifting her scowl to the pup who gave her a 'bite me' kind of look to her words.

"Eh, I've heard worse from the whores who fight it out in the slums over who runs what corner" Naruto said without a care in a world. It took him a moment to realize what he said, how he said it and see the blank looks on the two girls faces as they stared with twitching eyebrows. "Don't give me that look you two. You know as well I do the village lies as much as the other great and minor villages. Beside that point, I keep my ear to the ground in every corner of this village. I could probably tell you what clans or factions are trying to curry favor with whom, who was sleeping or not sleeping with depending on the source and what black market goods were being sold where as well as their going prices" he said rolling his eyes. "Knowledge is a great thing. Take yourself out of your little bubbles and you might learn a thing or two about this village it tries to hide so badly under a veneer of being all hunky doorie."

"How do you even understand him? He only barked" Naruko said with a scowl. If Nora said what her partner said was unpleasant and Naruto said it was nothing worse than what he heard two whores arguing over control of a corner she had a morbid curiosity to know what the pup said. "And what the bloody hell did he say exactly?"

"Ask the eyes in the fire to teach ya. I did but then again I was six and being neglected so my in-depth studies began a lot earlier than most" Naruto said cryptically. Nora would not understand so he was safe to phrase it that way since only the survivors of that day, Kushina, Minato and them would know what he meant. When asked what the pup said he quirked an eyebrow. "You really want to know? Its really rather crude and doesn't translate all the way to english well."

"Just tell me" Naruko said as her twitching eyebrow increased in speed while filing away what Naruto said.

"To be kind, you need to get laid with the amount of pheremones coming off you" Naruto and Nora said at the same time.

Naruko facefaulted and groaned silently. 'Stupid mutt! Now onii-chan will think I'm some kind of sick pervert or something' she thought with internal despair.

'Oh but you are a pervert kit' Hitomi thought coyly after putting up a wall to keep Naruto from hearing their little talk. 'After all' tbe vixen smirked softly 'it is your fantasies that show your brother fucking you wantonly like a bitch in heat.'

Outside her mind Naruko blushed scarlet and smacked her forehead against the nearest tree. 'Shut up! Not the time right now ero-fox!' she half shouted half whined at the kitsune. The cackling made her annoyed as she tried to suppress her bodies reaction to the unconscious images flooding her mind at the brief description of some of her dreams.

Nora looked between Naruko and Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "Is she always like this?" the girl asked. Besides training she didn't really spend time with the siblings considering she had clan duties but Narutos non-chalance about this made it seem like a regular occurence

"Not really. It usually on happens two or three times a week. Shes a closet pervert and will never admit it. It is rather unfortunate that her moments where she fights with her inner pervert comes at random and mostly unfortunately timed moments. Like now" Naruto said shaking his head. Looking at his watch he noted the first teams, foreign teams that is, begin to approach. His eyes settled on an all kunoichi team and curiously tilted his head at the white haired girl with the horns. 'Her chakra has a curious feel to it... This may be interesting after all' he thought to himself.

Inside his head Hitomi made Naruto turn his head non-chalant like to gaze around the area though her eyes followed the horned girl. 'Keep an eye on the girl with the horns kit. I feel like I should rememeber her for one reason or another. She feels familiar but where and when is eluding me' she said sending the thought as her expression screwed into one extreme concentration. White hair, horns, oddly thick chakra almost like her own youkai.. It was there on the tip of her metaphysical tongue but just out of reach.

Noras look at the blonde smacking her head against tree and the blonde sizing up the competition didn't miss Narutos silent gaze. "Come on, lets go get checked in then. See the competition we'll be facing as they trickle in" Naruto said as he threw Naruko over his shoulder caveman style. Despite the threats and banging on his back he didn't put her down since her resistance to little more than token amusement for him and Nora who heard snort at what her partner barked. "I heard that kibble and bits. Keep it up and I'll neuter ya while you're awake." His heard turned with a creepily serious that scared the pup back into Noras coat.

"Was it necessary to scare him like that? I'll be lucky to get him to sleep with one eye open from now on" Nora said with a whining pout as she followed behind Naruto. "Hes a pain to get to lay down already and you just made it worse by doing that... Thanks a lot." The muttered curses that followed were near silently as she soothingly pet her partners head.

"Well I wouldn't have had to if he didn't imply what he implied now wouldn't I?" Naruto asked as the serious expression broke into a unsettling grin. Being even said in gest that he should be the one to solve Narukos problem was not something smart to say. Clinically she was his sister even if he didn't acknowledge a bond, though he conceded that she was slowly but surely earning progress to that title, and had no attraction to her like that. 'Then again they weren't on the mission where I said I prefer more serious kunoichi anyways' he thought to himself.

'Not to mention older women who are know to be kinky and dangerous~' Hitomi added with a singsong tone. The faulter in Narutos step made her giggle madly. 'Oh come on kit, dont deny it. I live in your head remember? I know what you like just as well as you do even if do try to hide it from your dear mum.'

Nora observed Narutos near stumble with a raised eyebrow. "Something the matter boss?" she asked with a sarcastic drawl. "You nearly stumbled there and theres nothing in front of you."

Naruto shot Nora a dirty look and scowled at her. "No but you just earned a week off DDR when the exams are over if none of us are promoted" he said with a less than pleased tone. Noras whining protest and pleas for leniency went unanswered as they went inside and checked in before being directed to room 301. Heading up the first flight of stairs he saw a bunch of teams holed up around room 201, which had the room number under genjutsu to look like 301, and motioned Nora to silently follow him.

When they got to the exam room Naruto set Naruko down as she huffed and pouted at him. "Good choice all coming. If even one of you didn't come I would have to turn the others away." Kushina looked on in amusement as Nora spun around in surprise. "Heres one piece of advice: don't die. If it comes to your life or your opponents, kill them. Well, I'll see you later" she said before disappearing in a poof.

"That was uplifting" Naruko said with a scowl.

"But true enough. People die in these exams. Its the way the world works" Naruto said pushing them in ahead of him. The fight he saw made him quirk an eyebrow before his eyes darkened hearing information on the teams respective Kage should have. A suble flare of directed fire chakra burned the cards to ashes before anything about leaf ninja coule be read.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP! Until you fail I own you." Ibiki knew how to make an entrance


	23. Who hired the stripper?

Naruto idly drummed his fingers on the desk as he listened to the scratching of pencils all around him. The test was halfway through the allotted and he was bored to tears. Being the sarcastic foxy bastard he was he had answered each of the nine questions with one word that completed a sentence: Nice Try Ibiki But I'm Far From That Stupid. Oh the man would blow a gasket at the cheek but it would be funny. To Naruto himself that was. 'Now its a matter of entertaining myself' he thought. Getting an idea he popped his head up. Summoning Katsuhiro inside his trenchcoat he withdrew his cousin in her leviathan form and pulled out a deck of cards.

From the from of the classroom Ibiki scanned the competitors and was satisfied as he saw teams left and right being tossed out for cheating. Seeing Naruto, oh the cheeky brat who made Anko look tame on some days, playing cards instead of completing the exam. "Uzumaki! What are you doing?" he asked barking the question startling some people mid cheat marking their final chance to be caught and getting their teams disqualified.

"Entertaining myself. I finished the test already and thought to pass the time with my summon playing poker. Buy in is a hundred ryo if you want to pass the time with us" Naruto said with a smirk. Sometimes he couldn't help thinking Hitomi rubbed off on him a little too much but he wouldn't complain. Being mischievous as a fox had its benefits, finding humor in pissing people off was just one of them he had noted as a passive state of being.

Ibikis eyebrow twitched at the cheeky response. Naruto, while not ranked enough to be part of T and I, was almost as bad Anko when he wanted to be and it was moments like this he regretted introducing the two in first place. For a moment he conceded to himself it was a 'birds of a feather' type deal with how the two were similar before he realized his mistake. Naruto and Anko individually were bad. Naruto and Anko together was nearly catastrophic. The things they could do to this day after continually trading notes made even him shudder in total fear of the possibilities. Two rubber mallets, a pineapple, three rubber ducks, a rubber chicken, flour, tobasco sauce and a pickle should not be as conceivably effective to break a prisoner yet somehow Anko was able to do so after Naruto gave the idea. 'And the kids giving me lip to ruin the ambiance' he thought dakly.

From the back of the room the all kunoichi team briefly looked up from their own exams, well two thirds of them did while the girl with the white hair and horns protruding from her forehead cooed over a baby bunny nuzzling her cheek. Their eyes scanned the room and noted the blonde their friend , and defacto squad leader in absense of their jounin sensei, had taken an interest in. They had to admit he was curious to say the least. He wore his chakra like a cloak due to the amount and his sarcastic sense of being did draw more attention than he probably intended it too. Silent hand signals and eye rolls were exchamged before they went back to the test. What their friend saw that sparked her curiosity was beyond them but equally not their concern.

Despite Narutos focus on the cards in his hands as he played poker with his summon Hitomis eyes went wide as she used his senses. She had suspected something deeply familiar about the horned girl, more than she voiced to Naruto, but the rabbit nuzzling up to the girl made her far more on edge. Only two people she knew of had any close connection to the furry, mostly, gentle summons and one was technically dead while the daughter had disappeared. 'Please don't be her. For the love of Dad do not be her' she thought to herself worriedly. Kaguya had been a pain in the ass to deal with, from her memory of what her father had said to them after forming them from the Juubi, and her daughter said to have the same abilities had vanished without a trace. If the horned girl was Kaguyas daughter, reincarnated or not, then danger was afoot for her kit, herself and her brethen.

Naruko scowled to herself hearing the ramblings of her tenant. Hitomi was usually so composed but to hear her thoughts so worried and pacing so quickly, she suspected the woman meant to have the thoughts private but forgot to block her out, made her concerned. Just who was 'her'? Who had the vixen so concerned? Why was she concerned? A million questions raced through her mind as she flipped over her test finally completing the test to the best of her abilities. Even with her catching the tests meaning she only managed to glean six of the answers from who she suspected to be chunin plants with the correct answers, their ease of answering and lax behavior was suspicious to her, and so she hoped that would be enough. 'Lets hope Nora can keep us in the game' she thought resting her head on her desk.

Tenten relaxed with her chair leaned back against the wall. From the start she picked up the meaning of the test and devised her strategy quickly. Neji was easy to see his manner of cheating, subtle pulses of his Byakugan, so she was left to figure something out for her and Lee. Using a trick of the light she flashed hints at him with careful twitches of her fingers manipulating mirrors connected to near invisible wires. 'Talk about basic' she thought resting against the back wall, the front legs of her chair off the floor. More teams were eliminated as the clock counted down to the five minute mark.

Once the jarring bell rang Ibiki slammed a hand on the desk making everyone look at him. "ALRIGHT MAGGOTS! Time for the final question! You have a choice to make" he said with a smirk that silenced the idiot genin in the front who was about to speak. The confused looks amused him greatly. "You can take the question or leave right now. Bear in mind if you get it wrong you will never advance beyond genin rank. Ever."

Naruto cackled internally as he dismissed Katsuhiro who glared up at him. She was such a spoilsport sometimes when he summoned her to help entertain him. As people quit and raged at the unfairness he scowled internally. It was obviously psychological warfare to make them doubt their abilities but for this many to doubt themselves was disappointing. "OI! GET IT OVER WITH SCAR FACE! I WANT TO GET THE NEXT PART BEFORE I DIE OF OLD AGE!" he barked out in annoyed tone.

Ibiki scowled darkly at Naruto who managed to break the fear aura. 'Damn you Uzumaki' he thought. "For those who chose to stay... You pass."

Before he could speak further a black ball broke through the window showering people in glass. The ball unfurled into a banner reading 'THE ONE, THE ONLY SEXY AND SINGLE ANKO MITARASHI!' as a woman smirked victoriously at the gawking crowd. "Thirty six teams Ibiki? You're losing your touch old man" she said with a sarcastic drawl. The look of annoyance made her laugh as she turned leaving her attire on display. Between her short tan leather skirt, fishnet shirt and tan trench coat that barely covered her bra-less chest it was safe to say she wasn't shy about her body.

"Your boy toy broke the aura so blame him Anko" Ibiki said with a growl.

"He is not my boy toy!" Anko said with a glare that could weather stone to dust. "Naruto is my partner is crime and not a fuddy duddy like you are." She maturely stuck her tongue out at her colleague and huffed.

In the back the horned girl blinked as the baby bunny pawed her face and pointed to the front. Tilting her head slightly in confusion she appeared completely lost about the argument going on.

"About time you joined us consciously paying attention people Usagi-chan" Hera, the second oldest of the squads members said rolling her eyes.

"Its not my birthday He-chan. Why did you hire the stripper?" Usagi asked innocently. Several rows before and behind her the white haired girl heard people choke on their spit further confusing her. Did she say something that was wrong? The banner made the woman sound like a stripper.

Hera tried not laugh as she bonked her friend on the head. "I didn't hire a stripper. I'm pretty sure thats the proctor for the next exam" she said in a scolding tone.

Usagi pouted cutely glaring at her friend. "But shes pretty like the strippers sensei talks about so she has to be a stripper" she said defiantly. Oh if only Usagi truly was not as innocent as she was and truly understood what she had said or its implications.

Naruto and Tenten did nothing to hold in their roaring laughter as they fell out of their chairs. Leave it to a foreign kunoichi to call one of the most feared kunoichi in Hi no Kuni a stripper. Then again the pair didn't blame her for thinking Anko was a stripper. They had warned her time and again someone from a different village would mistake her as a stripper but she always shrugged them off and here they were being proved right. As the temperature in the room plummeted the pair got themselves together and shared a mischievous grin. In synch the pair held up a five hundred ryo note each. "Take it off!" Naruto said trying to not fall back into laughter.

"Take it all off!" Tenten finished with a smirk tugging at her lips. Temari might get a bit mad at her but a simple explanation would smooth things out with her girlfriend. Besides, she had to play a part until they were both at a rank where they could be public with their relationship without being suspect of being seduced to give village secrets away.

Anko glared molten daggers at Naruto, Tenten and the horned girl. Oh she would make Naruto and Tenten suffer when the exams were over. "I am not a stripper!" she snarled as a dangerous aura surrounded her. Ten teams fled the room in terror at the KI flooding off of her.

Ibiki snickered seeing precisely what Naruto and Tenten were doing imediately. Ankos anger was terribly predictable and using the horned kunoichis comment to rile Ankos eliminated competition for them. It was rather smart of them to do so too. 'Not to mention hillarious. Those kids have stones the strength of diamonds to call Anko a stripper knowing full well she'll get even with them later. I'm not sute if thats stupid or brave. Probably equal parts both' he thought. "Anko, the test" he reminded the snarling purple haired proctor.

Coffee colored eyes filled with murder turned on him promising that she haf words to rip into him later. "Get to training ground 44 before I kill you all" Anko said with pure malice flooding her voice. Never before had Ibiki seen a room clear as fast.


	24. Ash and bone

Naruto sighed softly as he watched Tenten get chewed out by Temari away from the mass of people at the booth turning in their forms for a scroll. Being intimately, uncomfortably intimate, with the details of the two kunoichis secret relationship he was equal parts amused as he was exasperated at Tenten being taken so harshly to task. As expected Tenten going along with his improv to scare more teams off by following the rather funny sequence of events surrendered by the purely kunoichi team of calling of Anko a stripper the bun haired girl a new whole being reamed into her by her girlfriend. Despite the hillarity of it all as Tenten adopted the look of a scolded panda, not that he didn't take blackmail photos because he certainly did and scrawled across the back of them in block letters 'SAD PANDA', they had to cut it short. It was by the grace of powers above that Nora was distracted by Narukos insistant ramblings about ramen and Leee was distracting Neji with his talks about 'flames of youth erupting into a geyser!' that neither noticed the familiarity at which they talked or how easily Tenten accepted the scolding. Tossing a senbon at Kankuro he snorted as they thunked into the solid wood of 'his arm' as a signal.

"Don't think that conversation is over" Temari said with a final pointed look at Tenten. "I mean really, its believable but still." A frown crossed her lips before adopting a neutral look about her and disappeared alongside her brothers to a nearby gate.

"Thanks for the save foxy. I knew she would get mad but it had to be believable! I mean come on! Anko would fit perfectly as a stripper with how little modesty she has and how little she wears" Tenten said with a grimace. "Besides all that she should know the only one I ever want to see naked like that is my sand lily. I mean I might look when shes not around, we both do and we have permission to do so when we aren't together, but I mean she should know me better than that to think I was being serious. I mean I don't even fanta-"

"Panda bear, as much as I love ya as part of the pack unless you start forkin over fifty ryou an hour to complain about your relationship woes I'm not a therapist. We are fighters and killers, not head shrinks. Thats what the Yamanakas are for" Naruto said palming his face with one hand and the other firmly covering Tentens mouth to shut her up. "Besides, as much as I want to say that shes actually mad I would put far more stock into shes a lot more amused. The only reason I can say that is thanks to your bitching and moaning to me I'm far too familiar with your sex life than I willingly would like to know."

Nora cleared her throat finally able to shut Naruko up with drawing out a bowl of ramen out of nowhere. The comment about her possessing a bottomless 'bag of holding' and the starry eyed look had her more than a little weirded out & confused but she was thankful the girl finally shut up. "We need to get to our gate blondie" she said shaking her head. Sometimes her two teammates just were too much for her. "By the way, whats a 'bag of holding'?"

Naruto paused and looked at Nora with a tilted head before smirking a little to himself. "Seems like Naruko has been playing Dungeons and Dragons in her spare time" he said looking amused. "By the way, a 'bag of holding' is the equivalent of a sealing scroll for those who play Dungeon and Dragons. Quite the curious hobby she has." The amusment in his tone colored his tone as he picked Naruko up by the collar of her shirt and carried her off to the gate following Nora. The amused stares that followed them made him chuckle. Even if he was still at odds with Naruko she never ceased to give him something to give him a way of filling his spare time.

Anko was perched on the fence with a glare settled on her face. The kunoichi who called her a stripper was animatedly talking to her teammates about something and completely ignoring the world around her. Just how the girl was functioning as a kunoichi and still had such a naivety of the world was beyond her. It was infuriating! A suddenly evil idea popped into her head making her cackle. _'Oh thats a rich idea'_ she thought rubbing her hands together like an old school world conquering psycho. Vanishing from the fence she appeared behind the purely kunoichi team. "Say, before the exam begins" she leaned in close to the one who called her a stripper "I thought you might appreciate a heads up." With her leaning their was very little left to the imagination and that was saying something with her get-up.

Usagi peered at Anko curiously. "Oh hi stripper lady!" she said with an excited her Hera slapped a palm agaonst her face but the horned girl didn't pay much mind to it. "What can we do for you? I mean a pretty stripper like you should be all set. You should be pretty set for money. Pretty strippers like you usually make a lot of money. No modesty like yours usually entices men to part with almost all their money.

Ankos eye twitched dangerously at the comment but remained rather deceptively sweet on the surface. "Two things sweet cheeks. One and most importantly, CALL ME A STRIPPER AGAIN AND I SWEAR TO KAMI I WILL WEAR YOUR SMALL INTESTINES FOR A BELT!" she snarled breaking the facade. Seeing the girl jump so suddenly made her smirk darkly and strraighten up flashing the kunoichi team her bare chest for a moment. "Two, theres animals that would love to eat you for a snack. That goes for all of you!" Her eyes went outward glancing at all the other teams. "The animals in this forest are not your average cute woodland creatures. Snakes the sizes of of houses and as long as the main street of this village. Wolves the size of full grown bears. Poisonous insects that can bite you once and appear innocuous at first but suddenly" she clasped her hands together to form a ball before suddenly throwing them apart in an extravagant display "your body explodes in a shower of gore when your team least expects it. These threats and so many more await you in the forest before you. One hundred and twenty hours, five days, is all you got! Retrieve the opposite scroll you were given and make it to the center tower ten kilometers in. If you open the scrolls you fail and trust me" she grinned maliciously as she shunshined to her former position on the fence "you'll dread the consequence. You start this exam as a team and you will pass only as a team so do your best to not let yourself or your teammates die. On my mark!"

At every gate the teams tensed. "Ready!" Muscles tensed as people pre-emptively drew thejr weapons or put them in position for easy draw. "Set!" You could hear a pin drop as Ankos eyes surveyed the gates. "DON'T DIE!" She pulled the trigger of the gun, sometheing the hokage had special ordered from Yuki no Kuni just for this purpose, breaking the tense silence. Not even a split second later she was left alone with the chunins who passed out the waivers as the teams rushed into the forest. "Really try not to die. I haven't had any good entertainment lately kiddos and my money is betting on you Uzumaki" she muttered glancing over her shoulder into the dark forest.

* * *

Naruto stopped his teammates not far from the gate and made a motion for them to huddle up. "This is my playground and no offense but I don't feel like lugging dead weight so..." The girls looked confused fot a moment before darkness took over his vision and they crumpled down uncoscious. "You two wouldn't survive a day in here so consider this a mercy" he said after slicing his thumb open so it bled and drew three seals. The first seal he drew was on both Nora and Naruko, stasis seals to last through the five days the exam would last thst would keep them unconscious. Next to the stasis seals he drew two storage seals before he drew the corresponding holding seal on his palm. Flaring his chakra through the seals the two girls were gone in a puff of smoke. "Now I can do this exam without having to be looking over my shoulder at them to make sure they're ok" he muttered sighing in relief. Drawing his sword after securing their heaven scroll into a second blood seal he shot off into the woods with a dark grin.

 _'You know they'll be pissed at you when this is over'_ Hitomi said with a mental snort. Seals were already hard enough as it was for most people but to apply seals like Naruto did on both Nora and Naruko was borderline homicidal for most people. Applying stasis seals was med nin level stuff he should have had no knowledge of but considering he had absorbed the entirety of the Namikaze and Uzumaki library prior to his moving out on his own his knowledge was frightening to say the least. Being able to apply the seal safely and have it act as it was supposed to was something he had long worked on under hers and Leviathans watchful eye in-case a mission went sideways and he needed to get his team out to safety. Now she was glad that they worked so hard on it and it went off without a hitch. _'Now not that I'm complaining but what possessed you to use the same seal that my modified contract is_ based _off of to send their unconscious bodies to a separate dimensional pocket?'_ she asked sweetly.

'Oh come off it. Them being in there with you is tempory until I get to the tower. I really don't want to look over my shoulder every two seconds and hope they aren't dead. It'd be the biggest waste of a tracker and then I would have not just that asshole Minato on my back for the death of his daugbter but the Inzuka clan as well' Naruto thought back as he cut his way ruthlessly through a team of Kusa ninja. Rummaging through their stuff he found a heaven scroll and sighed. Sealing their weapons and supplies into a sealing scrolls was short work before he burned the bodies to ashes.

* * *

Usagi pouted to herself as she cut a bloody swath of hair from her face. Hera had butched a team of Ame ninja that got in their way and that didn't upset her given the exam type. No, what upset her was that she got blood in her hair from one of the idiots necks being cut ear to ear and the arterial spray coating her. Not only was her hair stained in blood, thankfully only her bangs hanging around her horns, but her exposed skin and body suit too. "You shoulda just burned them alive with your black flames" she said pointedly. While she was by no means a fan girl or a girly girl, she did take pride in her hair and having to cut it unnecessarily was something she hated.

"Yes I could have but that also is as taxing as your bone mage ability is" Hera shot back cleaning her long dagger. "Besides I don't have natural huge reserves. Some of us have to be more conservative with our abilities."

Their third teammate rolled her eyes and smacked them both upside the head. "Both you shut up before you invite more morons to challenge us" she said with a glare. "Honestly, you two are supposed to be older than me and more prepared? You're acting like school children." Being the most reserved of the trio Aris was often forced to be the mature one out of them all. Hera was the brain, Usagi was the mascot more or less with her penchant for randomly finding bunnies everywhere even if they reasonably SHOULDN'T be there and she was left to keep them from arguing unnecessarily. It was quite taxing in her own opinion. "Anyway, we got two earth scrolls so we could bargain another team that has an extra heaven scroll. Or we keep going and eliminating the competition."

"Eliminate the competition" Usagi and Hera both replied.

"Why am I not surpris- KAMI DAMN IT USAGI GET BACK HERE AND STOP CHASING THE GIANT RABBIT CHASING A BLACK BEAR!" Aris shot to her feet and ran after her wayward teammate with Hera in tow. 'Its like I live with children!' she screamed mentally ducking under branches.

* * *

"I SAID BAD BUNNY!"

Naruto looked up from rifling through the contents of another teams stuff, this time the opponents bound to trees with razor wire, when he heard the yelling. "Bad bunny? What the fuck is going on?" he asked himself. Pocketing a third heaven scroll, his patience was beginning to wear extremely thin already, he leapt to the trees to spot the commotion. What he thought he would find and what he did find made him blink once. Twice. Thrice before he had to rub his eyes. 'Am I seeing this right kaa-san?' he asked. For the love of Kami he hoped he wasn't seeing it right.

Below him a giant rabbit was humping a pinned down black bear. Behind the thrusting bunny a girl was thwacking what looked like a leash trying to pull the bunny off the bear. For her part Hitomi was doing her utter best not cry and laugh at the same time. The humor of it all was ironic that the prey had the predator pinned doing what it wanted. What made her worried, though she mad sure not broadcast it so Naruto didn't pick up on it, was the girls appearance. _'Whatever you do kit DO NOT get on her bad side. She is really familiar for some reason and I really don't like it'_ she hissed. It was so close to the tip of her tongue but just infuriatingly out of reach. Whatever ever she was about to say next was cut off by a wall of hurricane force wind smacking through the clearing. The rabbit and the bear were not just separated but sent flying as a result while Naruto, the girl with the bone horns and the girls teammates were forced to secure their place with chakra and hold on to the nearest sturdy object for dear life.

"Kukuku, color me impressed. To keep your place in face of a watered down version." The Kusa shinobi looked amused from his perch above the rattled genins. Their gaze swept over to Naruto and smirked a rather maniacal grin. "Naruto Uzumaki, just the genin I was looking for. Now where would your teammates be?" he asked with a rather cruel gleam in his eyes. "I have a bone to pick your Uchiha teammate."

Naruto warily looked at the Kusa 'genin', he or she was too old to be called a genin in Narutos mind, and shifted the weight to one to ready for a fight. "Shes indisposed at the moment" he said cautiously. Letting out sensitive information to enemies was a big no-no . "Can I take a message? Shes quite bitchy about not being told people want to kiss her ass."

The Kusa genin sneered at the mocking tone Naruto used. He would not be denied! He had planned too long for this! Leaping into the air he drew a wicked sword and dove for Naruto. The last thing he saw was a sudden eruption of bone spikes like a forest suddenly pierce up and skewer him through the stomach before his eyes widened in horror as the flesh and cloth began to flake into ash rapidly.


	25. Mysteries afoot and alliances?

Naruto groaned as he finally made it to the tower and shot a glare at the full kunoichi team. Not only did every muscle in hks body ache but the various wounds he knew would leave scars were far more numerous than he would have ever wanted. "I swear to kami the only reason it took us four days to do this shit is its your fault" he said looking at the kunoichi he come to know as Hera. The four days had let him get to know all three but truthfully Usagi, the apparent leader to him, was a mystery to him. One minute shes all naïve, innocent and clueless which lined up well with her behaviour during the first part of the exam and her so precisely focused on a baby rabbit instead of the test. Then there was her freaking fight against the Kusa ninja that came picking a fight. If he didn't know better he would have thought Usagi was a demon possessed as she fought the man, or was it a woman, with her frightening bone skill that turned everything it touched to ash.

"None of us asked you to help us" Aris said with a rather snotty scowl. The blonde leaf genin had been a right pain in the side with his bitching but Usagis insistence the four of them travel as a pack reluctantly won out.

"Now now foxy-kun, be nice to He-chan and Ar-chan" Usagi said with a tired smile. The girl was a mess as she used Hera for a support. Four days of fighting and eliminating competition would do that to a girl. Her hair had dried blood in it, her body suit was covered in dried blood and other bodily fluids, her eyes were bloodshot & not to mention the dark bags under her eyes were a dead giveaway she hadn't been sleeping. "We're all a little cwanky."

"Whatever bun bun." Naruto dug out the scroll with Nora and Naruko stored in stasis before unsealing their bodies. A quick application of an underpowered water bullet not only removed the temporary stasis seal but woke the two girls up with sputtering coughs.

"T-the fuck onii-san?!" Naruko glared up with chattering teeth. One minute they were discussing a plan and next she knew darkness. "Where the hell are we? Who the hell are they?" A finger was jabbed toward the full kunoichi team. "How much time is left in the exam? And most importantly, what in the fuck did you do to us?!"

Hera and Aris snorted at the questions being shot at the blonde male. He could deal with his own drama. "Come on, theres other similiar entrances around the building. I would say it was fun blondie but your bitching was more annoying than anything else. If we fight in the last part of the exam its nothing personal. Ja" Hera said guiding her teammates to another door.

Naruto sighed and rubbed his temples. "In order of most relevance. Number one, I knocked tou two out after we entered the forest and put you under stasis seals and sealed your bodys into modified long distance Oi nin injured persons scrolls. The medical chakra sealed in the scrolls has kept your bodies healthy for the past four days while I took care of this portion of the exam. This whole training ground has overgrown out of control animals the size of Hokage tower. You would have been too injured by the time we got here if I didn't do what I did so I did the smart thing. You two would have been dead weight."

Nora looked offender while glaring chocolate tinted death at the blonde Uzumaki. "You knocked us out for four days. Sealed our bodies up like luggage and did this entire leg of the exam on your own?" she asked with a thinly veiled sweet voice promising death if he answered wrong.

"Yea, sounds about right. I train here. A lot. I know the lay of the land. I know the dangers of the animals that call this place home. I mean for fucks sake this training ground is a nut case! For example and I kid you not on the bastard Yondaimes tiny pencil eraser dick" Naruto ignored the gagging from the two girls "I saw a giant ass bunny twice the size of fully grown bear take it down and take a victory shag from the bears body. You cannot make this shit up I swear" he said waving his arms animatedly. "Ok well maybe you can but ask the girl with the horns, she was chasing the damn thing smacking a collar that was on the bunny like she was walking a damn pet."

Nora and Naruko shared a look questioning Narutos sanity. "Did you eat anything poisonous while you had us...indisposed of for this duration?" Naruko asked. "Berries, leaves, animal meat? Cause I find a giant ass rabbit taking down a bear and taking a victory hump on it to be entirely fiction. Rabbits are prey animals, bears are predators. Ergo, if any of the two is going to take the other down it will be the bears taking down the rabbits."

"You can't apply logic to this mad house! Righ is left, left is diagnol and purple is blue! Just look the hell around us at the plants. At the animals for kamis sake! They are far larger, wilder, and mutated than anything a textbook will describe as being normal" Naruto said pointing a sharp finger at tiger three times the size of an adult wolf with jutting out canines making him think of sabertooth tigers. "Tell me that damn wolf should look like that!"

Naruko looked over and had to concede that wolves were not supposed to look like extinct big hunter cats. "Fine I'll concede that wolf should not be that big. Nor should they have canine teeth that long or sharp" she said with a shudder. Her eyes widened immensely at a plant opening its leaves to reveal a mouth full of sharp teeth and a tongue that turned and swallowed the creature whole as yelps of agony escaped its throat.

"Even more proof! You think this place is safe? You should be thankful for what I did to you two" Naruto said with a sharp glare. "Lets just go already and get inside. I want to wash this blood off me." Shoving the pair forward despite protest he scowled lightly seeing the scroll hanging in the room.

"A riddle? What the bloody hell is this crap" Nora asked with a scowl and glare at the hanging scrolls. "If you lack Heaven but have more Earth than you should find more time for _. If you lack Earth but have more Heaven than you should find more time for _. What do they expect us to do here?" She huffed and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Its a knowledge test duh" Naruko said shaking her head. Heaven must be referring to intelligence and Earth has to be referring to our physical abilities. What I don't know is what the blank is supposed to be. Maybe something like either working out if we are lacking in Earth or studying if we are lacking in Heaven."

Naruto had stopped listening when the two began to bicker about it and decided to say fuck it. Removing the scrolls from his person he opened both and kicked them up into the air when they began to smoke. "Behind me now!" he ordered yanking both girls behind him. When the smoke cleared he heard a thud and saw a twitching familiar mop of purple hair. "Anko? What in the name of dango are you doing here?"

Anko cursed and glared darkly at Naruto. She had been enjoying her third afternoon meal of dango, nothing topped dango, and then all of sudden she was here on her head in the tower. She didn't care that she was flashing the brats, Naruto was unfazed but the same couldn't be said for the two blushing girls, and righted herself to a seated position. "I was enjoying my afternoon dango but you opened the damn scrolls here which means you pass this fucking test" she said with a miffed look in her eye. "With one day to spare. Cutting it a little close brat don't you think?"

"Meh, we're still here. I don't think the results matter either way" Naruto said dismissively waving his hand in Ankos direction.

"Cheeky little shit. I wouldn't be so cocky. Theres plenty of skilled teams here already. Head through that door over there and head up the stairs two flights. Blondie, stay back for a minute." When the two hesitated leaving Naruto Anko have the two kunoichi a swift kick in the ass forcing them to leave through the door and slammed it shut behind them. "Why are you covered in blood? You ain't usually this violent kid."

Naruto grimaced at the direct questioning and made a motion with his hand forcing the door closed with a strong gust of wind leaving them in the relatively dim room as torches sparked to life. His eyes glowed a dark gold as his posture became rigid. "There were complications in the forest" he said in a curt direct tone. The conversation would not be a fun one but it was necessary.

Ankos eyes sharpened immediately at the word complications. There was very little the blonde considered a complication or problem. For Naruto to use it was telling in and of itself of the severity of the situation. "Explain and don't leave out a single detail" she ordered.

* * *

 **Inside the towers infirmary**

* * *

Nora and Naruko glared at the oi-nin checking them over. "We already told ya that we're fine. Aside from a little miffed at my brother for doing something completely and utterly asshole-ish we're no worse for wear" Naruko said with a rather disgruntled scowl.

"Be that as it may it is my job to give every participant a check over when they get here" the medical ninja said with strained patience. He really hated his job some days. _'Kids these days don't appreciate squat from anyone'_ he thought rubbing his temple with one hand while jotting notes in their files. "A bit dehydrated but otherwise-"

"Fine. I didn't risk their lives and they spent the last four days in a scroll you oi-nin use to transport injured comrades long distances without killing them mid transport." Naruto pushed off the doorframe and rolled his eyes. "Just discharge them already so they can sharpen up in the training rooms" he said with a flat tone. His mind kept the warning Anko left him in mind as it played on repeat. Of course he had the luck to run into a wanted criminal in this thing. Of course his luck would put his life at risk only to escape by the skin of his teeth after the guy used a technique to cough up a new uninjured body and make a tactical retreat.

The oi-nin didn't look impressed with Narutos tone and his eyes said as much. "Mr Uzumaki I would appreciate if-"

"I could give two shits what you appreciate or do not appreciate. I am tired, annoyed and your voice is grinding my nerves something horrible. My teammates are in fine health as you said. Discharge them. Now" Naruto said with a pointed venomous glare. Not even his mothers mental tail slap to remind his manners was doing any good. With the information given to him by Anko he was far from in a mood to be polite to a person that was of no consequence to the danger that may face them in the not so far future.

Nora and Naruko shared a look with each other that was equal parts edgy & curious but kept silent as the oi-nin told them they could go. Naruto was never this dismissive or cold of anyone. Well he had been but not for a good length of time. Just what happened after they were kicked quite rudely out and left the blonde male alone with the crazy purple haired proctor? Following the boy out they snuck glances back and forth. His posture was rigid as stone, his turns mechanical and he said nothing at all. Whatever happened in the forest and with the proctor inspired this chsnge in him, a change that neither liked.

"Whats wrong with yo-"

"Don't speak until we get we're I'm leading you."

The order was crisp and curt silencing the Inzuka girl who fell back behind Naruko. Nora had heard about there being strong alpha material mates out there but Naruto was something else. In this moment he was strong in that way like her mother described but more than that he frightening to her. Like he would throw her into the stone walls if she disobeyed his command amd not care about hurting her.

The silence was so stiff you could hear a pin drop til at last Naruto opened the door to a training room. Once the girls entered he slammed it shut behind him and locked it with a blood seal. "Now you two will listen to what I say and not interrupt me" he said with a hard look. "Then we will train til you cannot move before we retire for a meal and take a room to rest. Am I clear?" Two quick nods met his rhetorical questions. "During the time two were in stasis.."

* * *

A/n: this isnt nearly as long as i wanted it to be but it helps to set up what I wanted to set up for the next chapter when the fight begin. Why did narutos eyes glow gold? Is the person Usagi stab orchimaru or is it not? What else happened in the four days of hell in the forest? All will be revealed next chapter as well as the fights starting.


	26. Summoners Fury

Nora and Naruko glanced between themselves as they tried to comprehend everything that Naruto put before them. "So you mean to tell us that that pale chick with horns"

"Her name is Usagi" Naruto interrupted picking at dried blood under his nails with a kunai.

"Right" Naruko said slowly as she shifted slightly in place. "This Usagi chick is some kind of dangerous. Like really dangerous. Run through with a giant column of bone dangerous." Admittedly she was still convinced her brother had eaten something poisonous and the tale he told them was one big hallucination. "You have to look at it from our side here. **You** are the one who knocked us out and did the last part of the test without us. **You** have eaten kami knows what out there."

The twitchy expression on Narutos face shut Naruko up as she ducked a wickedly sharp kunai that barely missed something vital by inches. "Are you questioning my lucidity?" he asked with a falsely sweet tone that could peel paint. "I am acutely aware of everything I ate since I'm the one who packs and seals non-perishable meals for long missions and my own just incase back-ups. If you think I would eat anything from out there" he jabbed a finger at the wall to indicate the mad house outside "you're stupid or insane and I don't care if your feelings are hurt because of me saying that. Nearly everything out there is poisonous. The things that **AREN'T** poisonous and safe to eat are a safe conservative three times larger than most humans with claws or fangs that would make murdering anything trying to eat it a very easy process."

Nora and Naruko glared up at him for that comment but said nothing. At last, after nearly ten minutes of tense silence, Nora broke the quiet. "Look, you're probably right it seems like a tall tale to us without having seen it ourselves ya know?" she asked shrugging a shoulder lightly. "Summoning a deadly miniature forest of bones after a guy attacks you looking for this Uchiha chick. The bone skewering the guy through and suddenly he starts flaking off into ash where the bone went through him? Its a bit much Naruto."

"The last records of anyone using bone jutsu was some clan out of Kiri. Kagusa? Kaguwa? Something like that" Naruko said tapping her chin.

"The Kaguya clan. Their bone related jutsu were related to their clan bloodline. All the records ended because supposed they like nearly every clan in Kiri was put to death by order of the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura during their civil war and the bloodline riots" Naruto said rolling his eyes. "But you know as well as I do you can't truly kill a clan of every single member. Look at the Uchiha."

"Ok, not to defend Satsuki because she was a complete psycho stalker bitch but a little respect for the dead. Is that too much to expect here? Your point is made but do you have to make it on the back of a dead comrade? Not that she was much of one but she wore the same headband we do. At least give her that courtesy as a former leaf kunoichi" Naruko said with a scowl and a hard glare at Naruto. "But I get your point. Itachi is still out there so _technically_ the Uchiha aren't dead after the majority was put to the block with Itachi murdering them before fleeing."

"Precisely my point right there. She was throwing around bone related jutsu like it was fuckin candy. Her teammates did nothing to help and the guy girl or whatever the fuck they were seemed to get into a panic over seeing their body decay into ashes. Three hand seals later and they cough up a new unharmed body swearing like an emo shitlord and melts into the ground. Wherever the hell shes from she is dangerous."

Nora snorted and whined when Naruko cuffed her upside the back of the head. "What the bloody hell was that for?!" she asked with a glare.

"Enough foolin around. Its a little much but hes spent the last four days with the competition and spotting out what we could be up against going forward in terms of other teams. Stop acting like a pup and get serious." Naruko turned her gaze back to her brother and made a motion for him to continue. "Tell us what you saw out there."

* * *

On tbe other side of the tower Usagi and her team collapsed in an empty bunk room dead tired. Hera would have found Usagi falling asleep near instantly a little funny if it wasn't for the girl using her boobs as a snuggly pillow. Of course Aris noticed the plight of her chesty teammate and snickered taking a blackmail photo. No matter the want to throttle Aris Hera just shook her head and wrapped her arms around their friend using her as a pillow, it was hardly the first time and she imagined far from the last given the girls cuddly tendencies, to help their friend sleep soundly.

"Hey Hera, theres something off about that Naruto kid." On her bunk Aris turned slightly to face Hera and opened one tired eye to glance at her other two cuddled up teammates.

"I know. He has the same weird wildness to his chakra that Usagi does" Hera said glancing between the sleeping girl nuzzling into her cleavage and Aris. "But he can't be all that bad can he? You know Usagi is a damn good judge of character underneath her innocent naive behavior. If the boy was truly dangerous and a threat to us she wouldn't have pled with us to all travel together as a group."

"Yeah, maybe." Aris rolled onto her back and closed her eye again welcoming the darkness to rest her tired eyes. "I hope shes right you know. The kid saw a bit more than I think all three of us were comfortable with. Usagis creepy bone technjques, my special fire when those Ame freaks tried to attack and your scythe skills. Who knows what he'll tell his teammates" she said with a sigh.

"You could be right, hell you probably are, but we saw some of what he could do to. No one our age should that fluid and dangerous with combining elemental chakra into kenjutsu. Hell, no one our age should be so unfazed about killing people and he appeared completely unconcerned by the whole ordeal. I put my faith in Usagi and I know you do too. She doesn't ignore her instincts for anything and I'll bet you this has earned us an ally in the future if we ever truly need it" Hera said confidently.

Aris snorted quietly in amusement. "Yeah right, we'll probably never see him again after the exams end. But you know what, I'll take that bet. When I win, you have to kiss the ugliest skank in our village publically in front of the whole village. On the lips" she said certain that Hera would back down from her own idea. The girl had more balls anyone she had met but in the entire time she knew Hera she knew the girl was not reckless to be reckless.

Hera grimaced at the thought and almost glared over to the other bunk. "And when I win you... You have to go on a date with a person of my choosing. I don't mean going out to the bar either. I mean nice clothes like that dress I got you for your birthdayand you tried to use for fire fuel" she did glare over at Aris this time "nice restaurant.. The whole nine yards."

"Pucker up buttercup. The boy is going to be nothing more than a passing acquaintance at best." Aris rolled onto her side and went to bed. Whatever they would have to face tomorrow would come far too soon for her liking. Some sleep would help with dealing with it.

* * *

Hayate Gekko felt less than impressed looking at the mess of kids before him. Today was supposed to be a day off for him but no, he just had to make the bet with Genma and lose. Instead of getting the cushy job of proctoring the third and final part of the exams he was stuck here babysitting the brat fights **FOR** the final exam. _'I really need to stop gambling when my luck sucks with it'_ he thought sourly. "Alright brats listen up. Since theres too many of you that passed through the forest we have to cut your numbers down by half" he said, his voice amplied by the throat mic clipped to his flak jacket

Naruko scowled at that. "So whats that supposed to mean then?! That our passing the first two parts was worth nothing?!" she asked with a yell that rival Sakuras. Luckily for Naruto and Nora the scowl tipped them off to pull on special 'Naruko proof tantrum earmuffs', not so lucky for everyone else who winced at the volume.

Hayate glared at Naruko after having to jam a finger in his ear to get rid of the rid of ringing. "No it doesn't but if you interrupt me again your individual efforts will be for nothing. From this point forward you will be fighting one-on-one matches. Theres too many of you to proceed directly to finals so we cut it down to a handful of matches to keep from wasting the Daimyos and Nobles time they make in their schedules to come see the finest of you fight. Even if you lose your fight here you still possess the opportunity to be promoted. Any other stupid questions?" he asked turning his scathing look to the other genin. No one spoke up satisfying him. "Good. Now does anyone feel that they can't continue for any reason at all? This is your one chance to bow out and will not be held against you for consideration of promotion. Knowing when and when not to fight is something all your academies should havd taught you from day one."

From the crowd a silver haired boy wearing glasses stepped out. "I haven't recovered enough from exhausting my chakra in the forest and the injury to ribs require more careful attention than the oi-nin who looked my team over could give" he said.

"Name kid?"

"Kabuto Yakushi" the silver haired male said. He noted the proctor make a motion to someone unseen with his hand.

"You're dismissed. An oi-nin in the infirmary will bring you to a hospital to have your ribs looked at and treated by a doctor in the village" Hayate said. "Anyone else?" No one volunteered as Kabuto walked away to the infirmary holding a hand to his side. "Good. Now since Yakushi has decided to drop out there are an odd number of you that means someone will have to fight twi-"

"Me! Me! I'll do it!"

Every eye turned to look at the bouncing person and raised an eyebrow. Usagi was bouncing on the balls of her feet. She looked like hell still, it was obvious she didn't get much sleep, but Naruto noted she didn't look like hell when they arrived.

"Alrighty then..." Hayate said slowly. "And your name is..."

"Usagi. Just Usagi" she said. The white haired girl ignored her teammates looks of concern and just went on petting the bunny nestled in her arms.

 _'I need to have a **strong** drink after this'_ Hayate thought to himself. Another motion was made before the board behind tbe giant hands statue came to life flashing through names. "When the board stops everyone but the people on the board will go to the viewing platform." He glanced to the board hearing it stop and his raised eyebrow nearly reached his hairline. "Usagi, Haruno Sakura and Ino Yamanaka stay in the arena. Everyone else scoot."

Usagi grinned slightly and set the bunny she had been petting into Heras arms. "This should be fast. Oh, give little Usa-chan her carrot would ya? Its her feeding time" she said cracking her knuckles. Once the arena was clear of non-competitors she turned her gaze to the two girls, her grin turning vicious and vindictive. She would pay these two bitches back for what they did to her precious Usa-chan in the forest. The poor bunny still had the deep cut in her neck from being hung by ninja wire to try and make her hand over her teams scrolls.

Sakura and Ino ahared a glance not sure what to do. They had crossed a line in the forest but it was part of the test. Any means necessary was the implied read between lines. They barely heard the proctor call the match before the other girl was rushing them. A silent agreement was made to take the other girl out before dealing with each other.

Naruto was ashamed to call Sakura and Ino ninja for the Leaf seeing their pitiful show of skill. While Usagi was dancing around their pitiful attacks the other two girls were barely able to block the foreign kunoichis strikes. His eyes cut momentarily around the arena and spotted the council, both shinobi and civilian, joined the protor and Minato in the ref box talking amongst themselves. "Now I wonder what they could be talking about" he muttered to himself.

Down in the arena Usagi was having a blast tormernting the girls. One strike with a kunai here, another there and the girls were forced to fight back-to-back. Her grin turned sinister as she pocketed the kunai in favor of drawing out a pair of spiked brass knuckled. "This is for trying to murder my summon in the forest ya bitches." In a blur of speed she was gone.

From above most of genin couldn't keep up with the next couple of seconds. What appeared to several attacks happening simultaneously cowed Ino and Sakura as their blood decorated the floor in a rather cruel fashion. Stab holes from where spikes penetrated flesh littered their arms and parts of their chests exposing a fair amount of the girls torsos. Some of the leaf genin, all of them but Naruto and Tenten, and some of the foreign ninja looked sick at the cruelty that Usagi was using.

Ino, deciding that something had to be done to interrrupt the other kunoichis attacks, ducked an attack that would surely in her chest. Sakura had no chance to react before the brass knuckles connected with center of her chest. In that moment a sickening crunch filled the air as Sakura felt every single one of her ribs shatter into tiny pieces as a dangerously unhealthy amount of blood hurtled out of her mouth and the spikes pierced both her lungs.

Up in the ref box councilwoman Haruno felt her heart stop seeing her daughter drop to the floor and begin to convulse scratching at her throat. She heard someone say Sakura was going to die, that the placement of the wounds meant Sakura would die choking on her own blood as her lungs filled with the ruby liquid.

Usagi looked at the dying kunoichi and felt nothing before her gaze turned to Ino. "Using your comrade as a shield to ensure you don't die? You disgust me." She pulled off the brass knuckles as the blonde kunoichi made some distance between them. "Foxy was the only one supposed to know about this but you deserve the agony for your cowardice" she said with a dark sneer covering her lips. Bone erupted from her hands covering them in demonic claw like gauntlets while bone erupted to cover her neck and throat before forming a wicked helmet covering her head.

The brutality that followed the transformation caused many to lose their stomach contents. If it seemed Usagi was toying sadistically with them before now she was aiming to kill. Just before she could land the killing blow Hayate interfered calling the match in Usagis favor. Ino was, to be kind, clinging to the edge of life and death as oi-nin rushed out to try to save her. Usagi had tore one arm clean off Inos body, the blonde had life threateningly deep wounds all over her body wnd the thing that scared the medics was that her spine was absent like it had been melted. The team rushed the girl out hoping they could save her while an extra had the arm on ice hoping equally as importantly as saving Ino that they would be able to reattach the arm.

Naruto turned to Naruko and Nora. "Still think I was exaggerating?" he asked the shaking pale girls as Aris calmed down Usagi and guided her to where Hera waited with the bunny as the selection board came back to life.


	27. Chapter 27

Naruto was bored as he watched some of the fights that went through after Usagis and found them to be.. lacking. Shikamaru beat some music note headband wearing girl who used senbon with bells. The girls strategy wasn't obvious to most til the end but Naruto had seen it for what it was. With the utilizations of sound based jutsu and the foci being the bells on the senbon the plan was to disorientate the Nara and wear him down to submission but he had to give Shikamarus intelligence due. As he ensnared the girls shadow with a clever use of the Kagemane no jutsu and made her smash her own head against the wall to knock her out he winced. "And that ladies & gents is what I call a probable concussion if not a fractured skull judging by how loud that crack was" the blonde said as he saw the oi-nin cart off the unconscious girl after the Nara was declared winner.

"Twenty ryo on a concussion" Tenten said holding up the corresponding note.

"Fifty ryo says concussion and skull fracture."

"Hundred on compound skfarwfracture."

Naruto began jotting down names of the ninjas, the bets and their wager amounts ignoring the incredulous stares of the council and his father. Closing the notebook he sealed it up before he took the money and stored the money in a separate seal. "All proper monies will be dispersed at the completion of the preliminaries. All bets ars final. No bitching, whining or moaning if you lose. If you lose and try to get a forceful refund from me I will run you through with my sword and send your dead body back to family with a rather disgracing note stabbed into your forehead. Capiche?" he asked looking around at the ninja who nodded. It was then he realized he had more than just the betters looking at him. "What are you waiting for? Randomize the next damn match already! We aint got all fuckin day" he said with a rather snappy glare.

Tenten sighed as her and Temari were the next match. "Great..." she muttered to herself. A chance to prove herself and she had to go up against her lover who was perfect counter. In her sulking she missed the brief exchange between Naruto and her girlfriend.

Temari slipped something into Tentens back weapon pouch and gave her ass a subtle squeeze that went unseen by everyone save Naruto. "Compressed wind paper bomb. We both need this win but I need it a little more for appearances sake love. Near the end I have a wind jutsu that will send you flying toward the ceiling. Activate the paper bomb before you hit, it'll disperse most of the blow and cushion the damage you do take. I'll make it up to you later. Trust me" she signalled silently with her hands that looked like she was stretching her digits to almost everyone.

Tenten nodded her head slightly in understanding. "You better" she mouthed silently as they faced off.

Naruto didn't take bets on the match already knowing the outcome before it would happen. Feeling a tug on his pants he looked down and saw the little bunny Usagi had been coddling earlier. Kneeling down he offered a hand for it to sniff amd chuckled as the rabbit nuzzled its furry little head against his fingers. "You know you're going to worry Usagi-san running off like this little one" he said picking the little summon up like a small child. While idly stroking its fur he noticed his teammates look at him oddly as the all kunoichi team came over with a worried Usagi asking everyone if they saw her little summon Usa-chan. "Easy Usagi, shes right here chilling with me."

Usagi looked at Naruto and sighed in relief as a smile came to her lips seeing the baby summon poke its head up from the blondes hands. "Sorry for the distraction Foxy. Little Usa-chan is a handful sometimes. Being the baby of the litter shes a lot more prone to wander than her siblings. I can take her off your hands if you want" she said reaching for the little summon only to yelp at her finger being bitten. Little Usa-chans teeth might not be sharp yet, sharp for a rabbit anyway, but being bitten was never a pleasant experience. "Bad Usa-chan, that was mean" she said scolding the baby bunny who snuggled its tiny furry form into Narutos hands contently. As farw as she could tell her summon found the blondes warmth comfortable even if he did smell like a fox and it should alarm the summons sense of danger & self preservation.

Naruto snickered softly under the glare and shook his head. "Its ok, shes no hassle" he said scratching under Usa-chans chin making a furry foot thump happily on his hand. "Besides we aren't going anywhere anyways. Why don't you and your teammates join us. Until everyone finishes their matches and the finals matches are selected we're stuck here anyways. Pleasant company is always a welcome thing right guys?" he asked looking to Naruko and Nora who gave non-commital grunts and wary looks. "Don't mind them, they're still mad at me about what happened in the forest."

"Well Foxy" Hera snickered at Usagi pouting at her like she was trying to scold her friend and teammate for using the nickname without permission "you did knock them out"

"-and put them into a stasis seal" Aris continued.

"and spent four days with the enemy fighting off the other competion to ensure you passed" the two girls finished together in unison. Looking between themselves they punched each other making each other plummet into craters on the balcony.

Naruto resisted the urge to palm his face as he set little Usa-chan on his shoulder, the baby bunny making a comfortable snuggle corner just under his shirt between the soft material and his warm skin with soft fluffy head & ears poking out cutely. "You two are not twins. You do not have a right to do the creepy twin speak thing where you finish each others half-cocked sentences or ideas" he said with a pointed look. He noted Usagis soft sagely nod in agreement while Hera and Aris gave pouting glares at him.

"Spoil"

"Sport!"

Around his hand Naruto gave another look as he didn't resist the need to facepalm himself this time. "Usagi, can you do me a favor and thwack your teammates upside the head for me? Its bad enough I have a fellow genin in my village idolizes his sensei enough to copy everything about him even.." He shuddered killing the thought of Gai and Lee before it could fully develop. Seeing the girl nod and hop, he snickered internally as it was adorably cute considering her summons _are_ rabbits, thwack her teammates he thanked the white haired girl with a pat on the head. Despite some people staring oddly and more than a few kunoichi glaring thinking he was being a chauvinistic man and patronizing her with the action he ignored them as did Usagi. She understood he meant the gesture in its innocent intent, not a rude or patronizng way that most shinobi would use it on their counter-parts. "Thanks bun bun."

"Anytime Foxy. The twin speak thing is creepy anyway" Usagi said as she looked back to the match in time to see the brown haired girl hit the ceiling in loud crash of smoke obscuring her from view before she fell to the floor.

"Winner Temari of Suna."

Tenten was banged up pretty good, her clothes were ripped in several places from wind jutsu though none of the rips were anywhere thst might be prone to accidental indecent exposure, and her clothes were bloodied but for fighting someone who was her complete foil she had done pretty well. Temari had her fair share of scrapes, bruises, bloody wounds and ripped clothes but definitely less so than the brown haired kunoichi. Playing the stoic but good natured sport card Naruto watched the blonde offer Tenten a hand up, an offer rhe girl accepted before they both hobbled off to be treated. The next few matches were snoresville for him as the went by predictably, such was the predictability he knew he would make a fortune off bets. By the time his match came up he was already up about the cost of a B-rank mission though no one but him knew that. Yet.

Chouji had lost his match in under five minutes with heavy reliance of his families jutsu being his downfall, right on the money with Narutos bet. Shino made quick work of his opponent by fooling him with his clans bug clone technique before the clone was busted and the kikaichu bugs drained enough of the opponents chakra to knock them out, once more in line with Narutos bet. Kiba narrowly won his match thanks to Akamaru making him nearly lose since the Kiri ninja had used the fog technique to obscure Kibas vision. It was Akamarus nose and attacking from an unseen angle allowing the pup to bite deeply into the boys neck that made him surrender. Nora was still an unknown to him so while he didn't place a bet on Nora he made note of her wide repetoire of earth jutsu she had that she pulled off well in tandem with her clan attacks performed with her nin-ken.

"Naruko Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Ju Mei."

Naruto watched the match with some interest as his sister faced off against the other Kiri genin who hadn't forefeited at the start of the preliminaries. The clash of swords was rather slow and clumsy under his gaze but to most of the genin around him they were in awe at the 'speed'. While it was clear Ju Mei was a talented budding kenjutsu specialist he spotted the inherent weakness in the girls style right away; she telegraphed her lead and next move with her footwork. He could even see Naruko figured it out with her shift in attack. "This match is over.".

"What do you mean its over? Its barely begun" Nora said looking bewdered.

"Narukos already figured out how to tell how Ju Mei will strike next. Watch Ju Meis feet." Naruto saw the Inzuka raise an eyebrow quizzically. "Just do it" he said exasperated. "Her foot work is sloppy at best and completed untrained at worst even though her fluid motions say she practices with her sword. She practically screams her next move by how sloppily she moves her feet. Despite Naruko not yet having a proper style to her name she recognizes how to read how her opponent is going to strike by the general movements of their foot work." Around him several people nodded in understand noting with critical eyes seeing just how sloppy Ju Meis work truly was.

"You're pretty smart Foxy. You ever think of teaching?" Usagi asked as she stood on her tip toes and offered a carrot to her summon who nestled out of Narutos shirt and nibbled on it.

"Eh, maybe. Its too safe in my opinion. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie bun bun" Naruto said shrugging the shoulder that Usa-chan wasn't resting on.

 **'A _'bit of an adrenaline junkie'_ is an understatement kit and you know it' ** Hitomi snorted in Narutos head. **'You snuck into that mutant tigers cave a couple of weeks ago and poked it awake with a stick enraging it before running away for the hell of it! I mean getting an adrenaline kick is all fine and well but you push it a bit too far sometimes. You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days with your stunts!'**

Naruto sweatdropped mentally at the rant. _'No offense kaa-chan but you're a pure chakra construct. You don't have a physical heart to have a heart attack. Even when I summon you you're more or less in the body of a really durable shadow clone so don't try that argument either_ _'_ he thought back in retort as he heard Naruko be called the winner of her match, Ju Meis sword knocked out of her hands and Narukos sword held to her opponents throat.

 **'Cheeky kit. Giving your mother lip like that I should smack you upside the head with my tails'** Hitomi thought with a pout.

 _'Shes right brother, you do take it a little far too often'_ Naruko thought adding her own mental two cents. _'If you knew the word restraint we wouldn't be getting grey hairs. I mean come on, you might live for an adrenaline high but that doesn't mean **be stupid** about it.'_

Naruto pouted at the two pronged attack as Naruko settled back up in the wings. This just wasn't fair. Why was he being attacked for wanting to live the fun side of side of life?! _'You two just don't know how to live on the fun side of life!'_ he retorted childishly.

"Naruto vs Yoroi! Come on down to the arena!"

The blonde boy shook his head and jumped over the railing with little fanfare ignoring the stares. Taking a moment to observe his opponent he felt there was something wrong with this match up. It wasn't the Yoroi kids appearance but his chakra felt wrong somehow. He barely heard the "Hajime!" around his thoughts before dodging back from a palm strike. "Yare yare, that wasn't very nice" Naruto said in a lacksadaisical tone like he was scolding a child.

"We're ninja if you haven't noticed. We don't do nice" Yoroi said with a twitchy brow. Kabuto had told him Orochimaru wanted the Namikaze brats alive but the boy set his hairs on end. There was something wrong with him and his sister. Their chakra seemed tainted and foul for some reason, more so than those who have Orochimarus curse seals.

"Oh I wouldn't say that. Oi-nin are quite nice. Well as long ss you don't do anything to piss them off. Piss em off and then all bets are off." Naruto dodged another strike and deflected a kunai slice with the metal plate on the back of his gloves. _'Thank kami I pulled these out and on during Pandas match'_ he thought seeing the serrated edges kick up sparks as he drew his sword. "You see there was this one time I was training in here in the forest. Had a grand old time cutting through trees like paper." One slash met Yorois kunais as the male charged at him and tried a taijutsu combo on him. "Then I got bit on the ass by this giant wolf. Had to be the size of a bear."

Up in the stands Naruko palmed her face. Why for the love of Kami was he doing this now?! It was inconsequential and distracting but it was like he didn't care about about the small details of his life being known.

"Your brother is equal parts genius and stupid blondie" Nora said nodding her head. She saw Narutos idea to distract with something so innane as plausible to give him an edge but somerhing that was 'embarrassing'? Now that was srupid genius at work right there.

Yoroi glared behind the dark glasses shading his eyes. This boy was really annoying. Mostkof his attacks were being dodged or hit head on that he couldn't use his chakra draining technique. Dodging a series of swings from Narutos sword he had an idea come to him. Grinning behind the dark blue veil hiding his lower face he managed to slip in the blondes guard and managed a hard combo to his torso taking a fair chunk of chakra with the heavy blows. "Not so talkative now are you blondie?" he asked with a superior tone seeing Naruto spit out blood.

Blue eyes seemed to frost over as he wiped his mouth. He hadn't been trying beford but now Yoroi asked for it. "Katsu." The single command left his lips and he watched apathetically as the male stood fine for a moment. All of a sudden as he began to approach the laughing male he saw Yoroi double over in agony. His skin seemed to begin bubbling and burning as a scream of agony tore out of the guys throat. "You thought your little technique was cute huh?" he asked with an icy tone. One hnad yanked the head up as the other clutched his opponents neck. "You killed yourself moron." He ignored the burning in his hand as he used Hitomis youkai to burn an explosive seal into Yorois neck. "Non-jinchuriki can't handle youkai in their bodies, it kills them slowly and agonizingly" he said low enough so only the dying man would hear. "So I'll grant you mercy." Stepping back he snapped his fingers and walked away as the seal glowed before it exploded outwards. Bits of flesh, bone and muscle blew around staining the stone red with gore as the body dropped to ground dead.

Up in the coucil section Minato and the councilors, the civillian ones, were in shock. Death was expected in the chunin exams but for such a callous display from the Hokages son was horrifying to them. "Hokage-sama did we jus-"

"Winner Naruto! Can I get a corpse removal team out here?"

"Yes. Yes we did and my son was right. His opponent made a fatal mistake in his action." Minatos eyes were indifferent as he scowled deeply. He had hoped to use Naruto barely beating Yoroi as a chance to make the boy see he needed more training from a qualified person,him precisely, to worm his way into his eldest childs good graces. That plan was up in smoke. "Uzumaki chakra is corrosive to anyone who isn't an Uzumaki and Yoroi would have died an agonizing slow death from taking my sons chakra with his technique. Brutal and unnecessary as the gory kill was, that was mercy."

Down in the arena Naruto took a moment to catalogue his injuries for a moment. A few cuts and bruises to his chest from the combo that Yoroi managed to get in alongside a few blood cuts were the teeth of the kunai had cut him but nothing to serious. A poof of smoke filled the arena making him curious.

"What in the name of the idiot sage do you think you were doing toying around like that?!" Out of the smoke a very pissed off woman stared expectantly at Naruto. Her arms were crossed under her considerable bust and the tight dress left little to the imagination making many in the wings of the arena blush.

"That I shouldn't show all my damn cards like we discussed" Naruto shot back defiantly. "Honestly Levi, have a **tiny** amount of faith in your clans summoner. I mean for fucks sake woman its hard enough to keep idiots from trying to spy on my training to begin with."

Leviathan narrowed her eyes at her nephew and scowled darkly. Yes she was upset with him for toying around so much with his dead opponent but revealing he could carve seals with chakra alone would draw unwanted attention. "Well when my summoner shows a little more respect to those higher in the contract I'll consider cutting you slack" she said slipping back to the rehearsed conversation they'd come up with if she was forced to reveal herself early to the masses.

"When you stop questioning my every move and trust me to not be stupid I might consider being a little more respectful."

Minato looked at the bickering and felt wholly uncomfortable. A single glance around the arena told him he was't the only one. "Naruot move to the.."

"Can it bottle job!" Naruto and Leviathan snapped at once turning their eyes as one upon Minato.

Narukos head dropped onto the stone railing as she groaned. _'I will not drink. I will not drink. I will not drink'_ she thougbt repeating the mantra to herself. Leave it to her brother to make a bigger scene worse when his summon got involved. "This is going to be a long day..." she said kneading her temples as the squabling pair made their way back up the steps to towards them.


End file.
